Vatican sleuths are busy as new Pope takes the reigns

The Vatican press corps is watching Leo XIV very closely for clues to the kind of pope he plans to be.

The detective work began even before he appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to greet the people of Rome and the world.

When Cardinal Dominique Mamberti revealed that the new pope would take the name Leo XIV, that was the first clue to be interpreted.

Had he chosen to be Francis II, the meaning would have be clear: he would be a continuity pope — ‘Francis 2.0’.

But by calling himself Leo, the Pope was reaching back to an older tradition — to the Catholic social teaching associated with the last Leo’s great encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891), which addressed the emerging challenges of social and economic justice.

Incidentally, if this Leo lives as long as the last Leo, he will be keeping papal detectives busy for the next 23 years.

The Vatican sleuths then got to work on the next clue — how the Pope was dressed when he appeared on the central loggia of St Peter’s.

Unlike Pope Francis, who wore a simple white cassock, Pope Leo opted for the more traditional papal attire.

So there he was, wearing a red mozzetta, with a papal stole, and, under that, a white rochet and his white papal cassock.

Traditionalists were quick to celebrate, seeing in that attire an early sign that the new pope may break from the progressiveness of his immediate predecessor.

I saw something different.

Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo, is known to be a liturgical centrist.

But he is also known to be progressive on issues of social and economic justice.

Think of him as ‘Francis 1.5’.

He is also known to be a peacemaker, a quietly impressive diplomat with a missionary focus.

I suspect this new pope, who dressed like Benedict on that balcony but sounded like Francis when he spoke, will find ways to reach out to the various factions of the divided Catholic world in an effort to bring them closer together.

He may even decide to relax some of the controversial restrictions imposed by Pope Francis on the use of the Traditional Latin Mass.

But the new pope’s commitment to his predecessor’s principal legacy seems clear to most.

It was on display on Friday, when the Pope addressed cardinals at a Mass in the Sistine Chapel.

At one point, he spoke in English, encouraging the cardinals to walk with him in their new ministry together — that “walking together” was a nod to the last Pope’s ambition to build a “synodal” church, one where every voice matters – not just the bishops’ voices – in deliberating and shaping the Church’s future.

The sleuthing will continue at noon on Sunday in Rome, when the Pope leads his first Regina Caeli, a Marian prayer often recited during Easter.

Previous popes have led that prayer, just as they have recited the Angelus, from the balcony of the Apostolic Palace. Pope Leo has decided to sidestep that convention and preside from the balcony of St Peter’s.

We can expect all kinds of claims and counter-claims, some of them utterly implausible, about what that papal choreography tells us about his approach to Catholic liturgy and the future of the Church.

Other clues to look out for? Well, we still don’t know where Pope Leo will live.

He’s been staying at his apartment in the Palazzo Sant’Uffizio, the headquarters of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. That’s where Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, had his offices when he led that powerful Vatican department.

Will Pope Leo follow Francis’s example and live in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse, queuing for breakfast with a tray in his hands?

Or will he move to the historic papal residence in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square?

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter. But, as with the papal attire on the balcony, I wouldn’t read too much into that decision.

It would be a gesture that pleases many traditionalists, who wish to emphasise the centrality and uniqueness of the papal office, but Pope Leo clearly wishes to be judged not by how he dresses or where he lives, but by what he says and does in the world beyond the rather cryptic lexicon on Vatican politics.

Meanwhile, reporters across the world are currently interrogating every aspect of the new Pope’s life; every decision he took, or didn’t take, as a priest and bishop; every homily, every tweet, every re-tweet.

They’ll be looking for papal scoops, of course — every historical quote on issues ranging from the role of women in the church to LGBTQ+ rights is a potential problem for Vatican officials.

And then there are those online criticisms of the US vice-president JD Vance, re-posted by then-Cardinal Prevost last year. How might that affect relations between the president and the papacy?

A week from today, on Sunday 18 May, the new Pope will be formally installed in St Peter’s Square with a Mass for the beginning of his pontificate.

International delegations will be invited, and we’ll see if Donald Trump decides to be present to celebrate the first Pope from the United States.

But if the past few days tell us anything, he would be attending the installation of a former Peruvian bishop who sees himself as the second Latin American Pope.