Pope Leo XIV's past social media posts shed light onto political leanings

Thursday marked a momentous day for Catholics in Chicago as area native Pope Leo XIV was elected as the first-ever American-born pope While Chicago-area residents have expeditiously embraced the historic moment and coalesced around one of their own others have taken out the microscope in an effort to learn more about his political leanings Succeeding Pope Francis often seen as one of the majority progressive leaders in the church s history Pope Leo has been seen as an ideological adherent of his predecessor though with selected differences Before becoming Pope Leo he occasionally posted on social media as Cardinal Robert Prevost including particular posts that could be seen as critical of chosen policies of President Donald Trump s administration and their worldview The pope s preponderance latest social media activity came in mid-April when he shared a post on his account from a Catholic commentator who called out Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele for cackling about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland The post linked to an article published by the Catholic Standard newspaper in which Bishop Evelio Menjivar questioned of Catholics about Abrego Garcia Is your conscience not disturbed How can you stay quiet In February the pope also appeared to take aim at Vice President JD Vance posting links to multiple stories that were critical of him Pope Leo XIV hours ago Portillo's pays homage to Pope Leo on its menu and the sandwich sounds heavenly Pope Leo XIV hours ago The Wieners Circle embraces Chicago-area native Pope Leo XIV with viral sign Prevost repeated the headline on X JD Vance is wrong Jesus doesn t ask us to rank our love for others In the article the writer rebutted the vice president s claim from a Fox News interview that Christians prioritize loving people close to them before those from other countries On Thursday Vance and Trump offered their congratulations to Pope Leo I m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his productive work leading the Church May God bless him Vance wrote in a post on X Trump also offered his congratulations It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope he wrote on Truth Social What excitement and what a Great Honor for our Country I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV It will be a very meaningful moment Other reposts from Prevost s X account have suggested he supports protecting immigrants reducing gun violence and combating circumstances change The day after the Las Vegas mass shooting in October Prevost shared a post from Sen Chris Murphy D-Conn that announced To my colleagues your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers None of this ends unless we do something to stop it To my colleagues your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers None of this ends unless we do something to stop it Chris Murphy ChrisMurphyCT October Also in Prevost reposted someone who was defending immigrants who came to the U S illegally as children known as Dreamers I stand with the Dreamers and all people who are working toward an immigration system that is fair just and moral DefendDACA DACA the post declared Though not at all a prolific poster who shared views that aligned with fairly standard Catholic fare certain conservative commentators have taken aim at his past comments Laura Loomer a far-right commentator and close Trump ally published a series of posts decrying Leo s politics Just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican she wrote Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was more neutral in his reaction to Prevost s poll Let s just say not so great tweets about having chosen willingness for open borders We ll see kind of how he is on that Also certain George Floyd stuff that I m not too crazy about he reported in a video posted on X But overall it seems like he s a pro-life warrior There s a lot yet to learn about this pope but I hope that he will be a strong advocate for strong borders And for sovereignty In Prevost reposted tweets offering prayers and a message of advocacy for Floyd whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer led to a national reckoning on race relations and policing Other Republicans like former President George W Bush had a more positive reaction saying in a declaration that it s a historic and hopeful moment for Catholics in America and for the faithful around the world Former President Joe Biden a Democrat and only the second Catholic to be elected to the White House also voiced promotion for the new pope on X Habemus papam May God bless Pope Leo XIV of Illinois Jill and I congratulate him and wish him success This story uses functionality that may not work in our app Click here to open the story in your web browser