MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera almost rained on MSNBC’s celebration of the election of Pope Leo XIV. While the rest of the network has celebrated his rebukes of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Cabrera asked NBC’s man in Rome, Claudio Lavanga, what Leo thinks of abortion and “the LGBTQ community.” Rather than subject MSNBC’s liberal audience to some uncomfortable truths, Lavanga dodged the subject in hilarious fashion by talking about unrelated topics before finally suggesting it is unknown what Leo thinks of those topics.
Cabrera asked, “Claudio, I want to quote from then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, and this is what he has said, “We are often worried about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to communicate the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.” That was an interview with Vatican News. Claudio, do we know where Pope Leo stands on the issues like abortion, the LGBTQ community, women in the church, etc?”
Like a politician who make sure he got his talking points in, Lavanga replied, “Well, what we know for now, of course, Ana, is why he's chosen that name, Leo XIV. Because every time a pope chooses a name of a previous pope, he wants to follow in the previous pope's footsteps. Now, Leo XIII was a pope at the end of the 19th century, in the beginning of the 20th century, who was really concerned about social justice, especially for workers at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when that affected really the rights of workers, but also it created jobs and it also made some old jobs disappear.”
He also recalled:
There was an Italian newspaper that just published an interview with the Archbishop of Belgrade in Serbia, who revealed that last night during dinner, they asked him, they asked the pope why? Why did you choose that name? And at least according to the Archbishop of Belgrade, he responded that well, because we are in the same situation as Leo XIII was. The difference here is, he said, that we are now facing the Digital Revolution and as a consequence, a lot of jobs are going to be affected as well as workers’ rights. Now, this is according to an Italian newspaper, but certainly it just gives us an insight into why he would have chosen that name and what his agenda is going to be for his pontificate for now.
Finally, Lavanga declared, “As per the other matters, of course, we have to wait and see what he will say about those.”
No, we don’t. Leo is opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage, gender ideology, and women clerics. It is just MSNBC would rather talk about immigration because that makes them feel better about themselves.
Here is a transcript for the May 9 show:
MSNBC Ana Cabrera Reports
5/9/2025
11:08 PM ET
ANA CABRERA: Claudio, I want to quote from then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, and this is what he has said, “We are often worried about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to communicate the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.” That was an interview with Vatican News. Claudio, do we know where Pope Leo stands on the issues like abortion, the LGBTQ community, women in the church, etc.?
CLAUDIO LAVANGA: Well, what we know for now, of course, Ana, is why he's chosen that name, Leo XIV. Because every time a pope chooses a name of a previous pope, he wants to follow in the previous pope's footsteps. Now, Leo XIII was a pope at the end of the 19th century, in the beginning of the 20th century who was really concerned about social justice, especially for workers at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when that affected really the rights of workers, but also it created jobs and it also made some old jobs disappear.
And what's interesting here is that a-- there was an Italian, there was an Italian newspaper that just published an interview with the Archbishop of Belgrade in Serbia, who revealed that last night during dinner, they asked him, they asked the pope, “Why? Why did you choose that name?”
And at least according to the Archbishop of Belgrade, he responded that well, because we are in the same situation as Leo XIII was. The difference here is, he said, that we are now facing the Digital Revolution and as a consequence, a lot of jobs are going to be affected as well as workers’ rights. Now, this is according to an Italian newspaper, but certainly it just gives us an insight into why he would have chosen that name and what his agenda is going to be for his pontificate for now.
As per the other matters, of course, we have to wait and see what he will say about those.
