Leo XIV: A European Pope?

Among the most interesting things about Leo XIV’s still very young pontificate, is the central place Europe – the idea of Europe and the sociopolitical realities of Europe in what is now the middle of the 21st century – has taken through the new pope’s words, declarations, and actions.

Leo is refocusing the Church’s attention on what’s happening in Europe, putting Europe back at the center of the action. This is particularly interesting considering that this is the second consecutive Pope from America.

True, Pope Francis, the first American Pope, dedicated a trip to Strasbourg to European institutions (stubbornly missing the city and its cathedral, which was celebrating its thousandth anniversary) and even won the Charlemagne Prize. His speeches on Europe, like his European travels, aimed to reawaken Europe’s social conscience. His call for a demographic revolution in the face of a “grandmother” Europe is well-remembered, as is his concern for migrants, which began with his first trip to Lampedusa.

But while Pope Francis had an eye on Europe, and did not disdain European institutions, he did not actually want Europe at the center of the village.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, Pope Francis often seemed to lean more toward the Russian narrative—remember the phrases about NATO barking at Russia’s borders? Or the entirely unconventional choice to show up at the Russian embassy to the Holy See when the large-scale aggression began, instead of summoning the ambassador to the Vatican?—than he did toward Europe, which appeared to him part of the Western world that contrasted with the global South from which Pope Francis came.

It’s true that many of Pope Francis’s decisions seemed to respond to First World rather than Third World logic—such as, for example, the three commissions on the female diaconate, or the open discussion on the so-called viri probati and even his reform of Caritas Internationalis —but in fact the Pope then viewed Europe as an affluent continent, incapable of compassion towards migrants, and marginal in a history of the world that needed to change.

Leo XIV is an American Pope, but he views Europe not so much with suspicion as with concern. His words on the need to include the European Union in Ukraine peace talks show the Pope desirous of seeing Europe be part of the global arena.

In this light, the audience Leo XIV granted to members of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group of the European Parliament on December 10th takes on some real and powerful significance.

In his remarks to the MEPs on December 10th, Leo even revived the theme of Europe’s Judeo-Christian roots, reiterating the contribution Christianity has made to European civilization and referring to “the rich ethical principles and patterns of thought that are the intellectual patrimony of Christian Europe” and “essential for safeguarding the God-given rights and inherent dignity of every human person, from conception to natural death.”

“These,” said Leo, “are essential for safeguarding the divinely bestowed rights and inherent worth of every human person, from conception to natural death,” and “likewise fundamental for responding to the challenges presented by poverty, social exclusion, economic deprivation, as well as by the ongoing climate crisis, violence and war.”

“To ensure that the voice of the Church, not least through her social doctrine, continues to be heard, is not about the restoration of a past epoch,” Leo said, “but of guaranteeing that key resources for future cooperation and integration are not lost.””

These are words that weigh like boulders, and they mark the Church’s return to the European arena with all its weight and values. And it’s probably the right time to do so.

Religious freedom seems indeed at risk in Europe, and Christians in particular are under attack. The Observatory for Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe documented more than 2,000 anti-Christian incidents in 2024, including the murder of a priest in Spain and thefts and desecration. There were 93 church arsons, almost double the number in 2023.

While attacks are on the rise, subtle forms of discrimination are also carried out with a bureaucratic cloak and under the banner of equality. Recent news reports indicate that the European Commission has denied the Federation of Catholic Family Associations of Europe (FAFCE) access to European funds seven times—for which the submitted projects were eligible—simply because the federation’s vision of family – a father, a mother, and children – is at odds with European values, particularly those of equality and non-discrimination.

Not only that. The World Youth Alliance, a US-based international organization that educates young people about the dignity of life, received funding for projects, and now funds have already been spent, prompting questions and the risk of having to return them, precisely because European bureaucracy has decided those projects also violate the principles of non-discrimination.

But what then of Päivi Maria Räsänen, a former Finnish minister, who is now being tried by the Finnish Supreme Court after a six-year trial that has passed through various levels of adjudication? The reason? She had expressed her opposition to her Lutheran Church’s support for gay pride in a tweet (now a post on X) in which she cited a passage from the Bible condemning homosexuality.

The Räsänen case demonstrates how “hate speech” can be used against Christians. The FAFCE case demonstrates there is a prejudice not only against Christians but against Christian views in society, views which ultimately stem from natural law.

By bringing Europe back to the center of the global village, Leo XIV also brings these issues to the forefront and, in some sense, asks politicians to take a stand.

This is the “diplomacy of truth,” cited by Leo XIV in his first speech to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, on May 16.

On that occasion, Leo XIV noted that “the Church can never refrain from telling the truth about
man and the world, resorting when necessary to frank language, which can give rise to some initial misunderstanding.”

All this more than suggests that Europe will not be a secondary focus of Leo XIV’s pontificate. This return of Europe to a central place in the village ould also affect the way papal diplomacy operates. It is a small, subtle paradigm shift—to use a term popular during the Francis era—one worth watching and considering as it develops.