New pope, Leo XIV, in early days a papacy, appears to be winning over church's wary traditionalists

When the new pope appeared last week for the first time on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the historic moment looked like a worst-case scenario for Catholic traditionalists.

A close adviser to predecessor Pope Francis, Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was seen as the “least American of the American cardinals – a figure deeply rooted in the Francis era. He was a critic of Vice-President JDVance and to the extent he was known, he was seen as a progressive, raising fears his papacy would continue the previous papacy’s trajectory.

Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, a Catholic and one of the previous pope’s most vocal critics, was among the few to list Prevost among the favorites to become pope going into the conclave. But he said that worried him.

“My understanding is that Prevost is one of the ones closest to Francis ideologically,” said Bannon, now a right-wing political commentator. “He’s one of the most progressive.”

But instead, the first days of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy have – at least temporarily – assuaged traditionalists’ fears.

“Originally you had people saying conservatives’ heads are going to blow up, that this was Francis’ papacy, part two,” Thomas Williams, a conservative author and theologian, told Just the News. “I was worried, too.”

But that began to change, Williams said, as the new pope began to speak. 

He told cardinals – who had come from around the world to Rome after Francis's death last month to decide among themselves who would be the next pope – to stay long and to give him counsel. The request was in sharp contrast to Francis’ often unilateral decision-making. He also prayed multiple times in Latin, a meaningful gesture for traditionalists.

"You have to remember that conservatives don’t want to dislike the pope,” Williams said. “They want to find reasons to like the pope, and right now they are finding them.”

Even U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, another prominent Francis critic and leading American conservative Catholic voice, has indicated support for the new pontiff. “Please join me in thanking Our Lord for the election of Pope Leo XIV,” Burke wrote on social media.

Concerns about the Church's progressive turn in recent years have been particularly strong in Africa, where many congregations frowned on Francis’s increasing tolerance toward homosexuality. (In 2023, Francis opened the door to priests blessing same-sex couples).

In fact, one cardinal who appeared on far more short-lists than Prevost to become pope was conservative African Robert Sarah. Sarah, from Guinea, has been critical of gender ideology, liberal theology, and what he has called a “moral decline” caused by Western secularism.

But according to Pheto Matlala, a Pretoria, South African, diocesan priest now living in Rome, views on some such hot-topic issues across Africa can differ from country to country, depending on local laws and customs.

Still, Matlala said, when the announcement of the new pope began by saying his name was “Robert,” he thought for an instant it might be Robert Sarah rather than Robert Prevost. But in the end, he said, the fact that an unexpected candidate like Prevost was selected makes him believe the American cardinal’s selection was divine providence.

“The outcome was a shock to everyone, but that just shows how much the choice was inspired,” he told Just the News.

On gender issues in particular – on which Francis often differed with conservatives – Pope Leo XIV also may end up frustrating Church progressives. 

In 2012, as Bishop Prevost, in Peru, he spoke out against government plans to teach gender in schools, calling it “confusing” because it tried to “create genders that don’t exist.” 

He blamed the mainstream media for creating “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.” So far, the new pope has sidestepped those issues.