It is now found that Cardinal Joseph McNeil of Chicago, who is soon to be known as Pope Leo XIV, publicly rebuked U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) just weeks before his unprecedented ascension to the papacy. The response marks the first time a future pope has attacked an American political figure in the conclave of his election.
During the homily at St. Peter’s Basilica, the remarks of the then-Cardinal McNeil were about “the rising tide of divisive rhetoric in global politics,” without mentioning Vance explicitly. However, Vatican insiders said to The Catholic Herald that the speech was against the Ohio senator’s controversial views on immigration and social welfare programs.
“Leadership must be based on compassion, not exclusion,” McNeil stated. “Those who play on people’s fears to gain power show that they do not know the teachings of Christ.”
These statements triggered a strong reaction of discontent among conservative Catholics in the U.S. while the cardinal’s courage got support from progressive groups. Just three weeks after, the Cardinal was chosen Pope with the name Leo XIV, as the social justice encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII were at that time still well-known.
Vance’s office did not respond, but some of his colleagues waved off the criticism as “preaching from the ivory tower of the Vatican.” At the same time, historians noticed that it was rather ironical that an American, who was an outsider to papal politics for long, could assume the throne of St. Peter and at once engage in U.S. political debates.
Since the elected person for the first Pope from the U.S., Leo XI, V iis t someone whose papacy will lead to changing the Church’s role in worldwide politics.
