Amazing.
Over there in Rome the Cardinals of the Catholic Church have, astonishing the world, elected an American. That would be one Cardinal Robert Prevost, elected as the heir to the chair of St. Peter. The Cardinal, born in Chicago, is now Pope Leo XIV. (For those not into Roman numerals, that would be Leo the 14th.)
This is, as the reaction illustrates, a major surprise to the rest of the world.
And without doubt, one of the first and decidedly obvious questions is: How will the American media treat the first American Pope?
Earlier in this space When Popes Demonstrate They're Savvy About the Secular Press the attention and interaction between past Pontiffs and the media in general was noted.
Now, the media, specifically what we in this corner frequently call the “liberal media” will now itself be under the glare of the spotlight. Why?
The American liberal media is notorious for going after Republican/conservative politicians, Presidents specifically included, because of their conservative stance on so-called “social issues.” To look back - and currently! - at the coverage of candidate and then President Donald Trump and one can only imagine how the media will treat an American Pope.
In fact, it has already started. Over there on ABC’s The View was this from co-host Sunny Hostin as recorded by The Wrap:
'I'm a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community,' she admitted. 'In 2012 he gave an address to bishops, and he lamented the popular culture fostered and sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel, and that’s a quote.'
'And then he cited the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ and ‘alternative families comprised of same sex partners and their adopted children,’ she continued. 'I think that Pope Francis certainly made great changes in terms of embracing the LGBTQ+ community and extending blessings to the community, and I hope that this Pope doesn’t roll back the…..'
Hostin was interrupted by co-hosts Ana Navarro and Joy Behar, with Navarro noting these were remarks over a decade ago.
Over on MSNBC, historian Douglas Brinkley picked up on another liberal favorite - climate change. Said Brinkley:
And now this is for the history books, that America has a pope and one that I think is going to do a great job because Pope Leo XIV was hand-chosen, in a sense, by Pope Francis, and will continue, which doesn’t get talked about, on climate change. I’ll be interested. How do you think this pope will look at climate? Because Pope Francis really got deep in that.
And no small thing either? While officially “undeclared” on the Illinois voting rolls-the state of Illinois does not require voters to declare their affiliation when registering to vote- the records show that the new Pope did indeed vote in Republican primaries. Uh oh.
Think of those hot button “social issues” in American politics. In addition to abortion, issues like gay rights and gay marriage and climate change to name four. Woe betide the Republican/conservative politician who is seen by the media as on the “wrong” side of those issues, opposing all or even one of them.
Now imagine that the spotlight shifts from an American Republican politician espousing what are simply political views. And now shifts to the new American Pope. The latter now standing up to oppose those issues not as a matter of American politics but rather as a matter of official, longstanding Catholic Church doctrine.
As noted, already The View’s Sunny Hostin has taken to criticizing the new Pope when she said that “I’m a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Will, for example, the rest of the media outside The View turn on the new American Pope for opposing abortion? Or opposing gay marriage? There are American “pro-life” politicians aplenty, starting with President Trump, who routinely take media heat for opposing the “pro-choice” point of view. What would Planned Parenthood do without filling its days with attacks on pro-life politicians in the political world?
Now Planned Parenthood and others in America’s pro-choice movement will be coming face-to-face with a pro-life Pope who is, like them, an American. It’s not that there weren’t pro-life Popes before. Every last one of Pope Leo’s predecessors were pro-life. But the Popes that had come and gone before were not Americans. They were, to a person, Europeans or, in the case of Pope Francis, from South America.
Anticipating all of this, according to a Newsmax clip, is another American Cardinal, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Dolan is out there as saying where the new Pope comes from doesn’t matter - he is the Pope of the entire Catholic faith.
True enough for the new Pope and his allies like Cardinal Dolan. But will the American media buy that?
One suspects that the problem ahead for America’s first Pope is not just political but cultural. The liberal American media is more than used to putting a negative spotlight on American pro-lifers and those seen as opposing gay rights. It is what they do.
So the question now? Will the American media turn on the new American Pope and his support for Catholic doctrine for no other reason than that they routinely target America’s pro-life or anti-gay rights politicians?
It will be both unprecedented and interesting to watch.
Stay tuned.
