Political polarization is coming for the Roman Pontiff.
Loading Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player…
Discussions began immediately after it became known that the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church would be an American: which American exactly?
Every word of Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955, has been closely analyzed since the papal conclave concluded on Thursday. To most, especially those outside the Catholic faith, Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV, is a relatively unfamiliar face who was hardly a presence in the prediction markets in the lead-up to the white smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel.
So it was fascinating to some to see that the new pope had participated in at least two Republican primaries when he was not living abroad. Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was quick to characterize the new pope as a “flamboyant Republican.” But was he? With Leo XIV’s votes being released as quickly as his X account, it didn’t look good for MAGA supporters.
In a post on X in February of this year, Prevost shared an article titled “J.D. Vance Is Wrong: Jesus Doesn’t Ask Us to Measure Our Love for Others.” It was one of a handful of posts Prevost has shared this year since he closed his account for the entirety of 2024. Other posts have criticized the immigration policies of President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. The pope’s final post was a sharp criticism of Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele for laughing during an April press conference discussing the detention and deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“A Trump voter who criticizes his immigration policies?” one user asked under Kirk’s tweet. But the claim that Prevost is a “Trump voter” appears to be an empty one. In a tweet dated July 31, 2015, Prevost shared a Washington Post article with the headline “Cardinal Dolan: Why Donald Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Is So Problematic.” A closer look at Prevost’s voting history shows that while he did vote in Republican primaries, those votes were cast in 2012, 2014, and 2016. And while he voted in the 2016 GOP primary, he did not vote in the general elections in 2016 or 2020, leading to wild speculation on Twitter on Thursday that Prevost might be a Kasich supporter turned Trump opponent.
Within an hour of his tweet following Pope Leo XIV’s announcement, Kirk had backed away from his suggestion that Prevost was a staunch Republican. “Contrary to his tweets critical of J.D. Vance, Trump’s immigration policies, and climate change,” Kirk noted. And he’s right. Judging by his tweets and posts, our American pope has left no doubt about his views. Leo XIV supports gun control, shares Pope Francis’s views on environmental justice, and has called on the church to “reject racism and pursue justice” in a time of societal decline.
Sourse: theamericanconservative.com
