Pope Leo XIV: Francis’ Successor Ushers in ‘Normal’ Papacy

In less than two months, there is something almost normal about the Catholic Church again. Pope Leo XVI hasn’t conspicuously maintained emphasis on his predecessor’s themes and hobbyhorses. Unlike Francis, he hasn’t been preaching against novel “sins” which seem like nothing more than slurs against the pious: “backwardism” or “rigidity.” Nor has he continued Francis’s unlovely habit of making fun of young priests for their preference for traditional liturgical vestments.

At the same time, Leo has not announced a counter-revolution to quell the spirits his predecessor let loose in the Church. The man formerly known as Robert Prevost has somewhat disappeared into the role of pope — neither asserting his personality in a bumptious way, nor making off-the-cuff pronouncements that send his churchmen reeling. For the first time in the lives of many Catholics, a new papacy is not born into the storm of controversies left over from the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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In less than two months, there is something almost normal about the Catholic Church again. Pope Leo XVI hasn’t conspicuously maintained emphasis on his predecessor’s themes and hobbyhorses. Unlike Francis, he hasn’t been preaching against novel “sins” which seem like nothing more than slurs against the pious: “backwardism” or “rigidity.” Nor has he continued Francis’s unlovely habit of making fun of young priests for their preference for traditional liturgical vestments.

At the same time, Leo has not announced a counter-revolution to quell the spirits his predecessor let loose in the Church. The man formerly known as Robert Prevost has somewhat disappeared into the role of pope — neither asserting his personality in a bumptious way, nor making off-the-cuff pronouncements that send his churchmen reeling. For the first time in the lives of many Catholics, a new papacy is not born into the storm of controversies left over from the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.