Reflection on the Election of a New Pope

Photo Credit: Vatican News

By: Sister Patricia Schoelles

To the amazement of the world, for the first time in history the Roman Catholic Church elected an American to be Pope. Robert Prevost, a member of the Augustinian order and native of Chicago, selected the name of Pope Leo XIV after being elected on the fourth ballot by the College of Cardinals in Rome today, May 8, 2025.

By choosing to be known as Pope Leo XIV, the new Pope recalls the memory of Pope Leo XIII who served as Pope from 1878 to 1903. It was he who introduced the body of teachings that have come to be known as Catholic Social Teaching. Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum, issued in 1891, spoke out against the inhuman conditions imposed on workers at that point in the industrial revolution. Rerum Novarum praised the dignity of all human persons and called for reform of what had become deplorable working conditions for laborers, demanded just salaries and fair conditions, and called for recognizing the worth of every human person.

By referring to Pope Leo XIII in the selection of his name, the new Pope may be indicating his intention to renew the Church’s focus on social ethics in calling the Church to work on behalf of a more just, peaceful and inclusive world. Elected at a time of increasing conflict among nations, multiple wars and instances of military aggression, ecological neglect and decay, intolerance toward migrants and massive poverty, the new Pope Leo XIV echoes some of the notable high points of Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Pope Francis’ unbroken refrain on behalf of peace, welcome for migrants and his calls for global care of the environment may be part of Leo XIV’s agenda as he begins his pontificate by identifying with the papacy of Leo XIII.