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When Pope Francis died, the morning after Easter, distinguished right-wing Catholics leapt on the likelihood to foyer for a extra conservative, even Trumpian, chief of the Church. Far-right pundit Jack Posobiec broadcast a name for traditionalist Catholics to “hop a flight to Rome right now, go into St. Peter’s Square, and start taking up space,” reminding cardinals voting within the conclave that may elect the brand new pope that “now is the time for the traditional ascendance, because we are in a traditional awakening here in the Western Church.” Steve Bannon, who had castigated Francis for years, equally vowed to prepare an internet “show of force of traditionalists” forward of the conclave.
In Rome, Catholic-right journalists distributed a report back to cardinals, profiling main papal candidates from a palpably conservative perspective, whereas US Catholic-right philanthropists courted Church leaders at upscale gatherings, with one “VIP” saying their community “could raise a billion to help the Church. So long as we have the right pope.”
But on May 8, when the brand new pope the conclave had chosen—Pope Leo XIV, previously Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, and the primary US-born pope in two millennia of Church historical past—appeared on the Vatican balcony as a substitute, the Catholic proper’s fervor shifted to despair and alarm. “I can’t believe the cardinals did this,” stated common traditionalist Catholic podcaster Taylor Marshall, creator of a 2019 e-book arguing that the election of the late Pope Francis was a part of a century-old plot to undermine the Church, as greater than 100,000 viewers tuned into his reside stream; Leo was “definitely on the Pope Francis trajectory,” he continued, and, given his comparative youth, his papacy could possibly be an extended one. Marshall’s viewers chimed in with their very own lamentations: that the Vatican had bucked typical knowledge in choosing an American pope so he might “go head-to-head” with Donald Trump or battle to revive funding for Catholic aid work the Trump administration had reduce. That the “pope Trump stunt”—Trump declaring himself his personal first decide for pontiff and subsequently posting an AI-generated picture of himself in full papal regalia, sitting on a golden throne—had backfired, hurting conservatives’ probabilities.
Almost instantly, conservatives started poring over a since-deleted X account that appeared to belong to Prevost, reporting again with dismay that he’d shared posts expressing prayers for George Floyd, criticism of Trump’s nativist rhetoric, and assist for Dreamers, environmental advocacy, and gun-safety legal guidelines. In latest months, he’d shared an article from the progressive National Catholic Reporter titled, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others”—in response to Vance’s invocation of historical Catholic theology to justify Trump’s mass deportation marketing campaign—and an op-ed remonstrating Catholics who have been detached to migrants’ struggling.
They dug deeper and located that Prevost might have been concerned within the elimination of Bishop Joseph Strickland from his Texas diocese in 2023, following years of assaults on Pope Francis. And they unhappily registered how registered, in his first public deal with as pope, Leo not solely praised his predecessor but additionally referred to as for a “synodal church,” persevering with Francis’s imaginative and prescient of lay Catholics and church leaders working collectively to handle necessary points. Even one in all Leo’s brothers, talking to media shortly after the announcement, stated the brand new pope doubtless wouldn’t symbolize “much of a break in the tradition of Pope Francis.”
As consensus grew that the conclave had present in Leo a continuity pope, distinguished Catholic-right teams and figures voiced their outrage. The right-wing Lepanto Institute, a analysis group that states it was created to “present the facts” about “dissident and apostate Catholics in politics and other prominent arenas,” responded to Leo’s election by posting, “Prevost!!! Dear God help us!!!” and subsequently declaring Leo a “James Martin pick,” in reference to Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin, an advocate for LGBTQ inclusion within the Church. Fr. James Altman, who gained notoriety in 2020 for a viral video warning that Catholic Democrats must repent “or face the fires of hell,” wrote, “The vast majority of the hierarchy have betrayed and abandoned us once again.” Catholic-right outlet LifeSiteNews mournfully concluded, “The man who oversaw the takedown of Bishop Strickland and the rise of [Francis ally Cardinal Robert] McElroy has been handed the keys of Peter. The storm is here.”
While a handful of Catholic-right voices recommended endurance—Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant urged followers to contemplate how a centrist pope would possibly maintain the traditionalist Catholic motion united, avoiding the factionalization that would observe the election of a extra conservative pope—different commentators, out and in of the Church, proclaimed Leo’s election an intentional rebuke of the MAGA motion. Far-right social media character Mike Cernovich referred to as Leo a “shitlib”; Trump ally Laura Loomer went with “woke Marxist pope.”
In his reside stream from Rome shortly after Leo was introduced, Posobiec stated, “The choice of an American pope is clearly a reaction to President Trump.” Marshall advised Leo’s election was an intentional effort to power US traditionalist Catholics right into a selection. “We as Catholics are going to be pitted against an American pope and the American president. And I feel the liberals, the bishops, the priests are going to be pushing us: which one are you for? Do you support your president or do you support your pope?” Bannon reportedly declared Leo the “worst pick for MAGA Catholics” and an “anti-Trump pope” chosen “by the globalists that run the Curia,” subsequently telling a Financial Times viewers, to laughter, that the conclave “was more rigged than the 2020 election,” and would quickly trigger a schism.
And then, virtually in a single day, the narrative appeared to alter.
On Friday, Marshall’s video responding to Leo’s election was now not public on YouTube. (In an earlier video, Marshall had additionally declared Prevost doubtlessly “the worst case scenario.”) He posted a brand new recording that started with the phrases, “I submit myself to his holiness Pope Leo XIV.” After prayer, he stated, his preliminary shock had given technique to a way of encouragement, and he reminded listeners of historic circumstances the place popes elected as liberal reformers had unexpectedly grow to be staunch conservatives. Noting that Leo’s papacy would possibly final 20 years, he stated Leo “needs to know that traditional Catholics are praying for him, that we wish him the best.”