Leo XIV, an American Pope

Americans are paying attention, at least this one is!

This is the beginning of a new series called Catholic in America.

Pope Leo XIV is giving me a lot to think about. The fact that he is an American somehow has raised my expectations. Is that fair? Would I feel the same sense of curiosity, of hope, if Pietro Parolin from Italy, or Peter Erdo from Hungary, or Fridolin Abongo from the Democratic Republic of Congo had been elected, instead of Robert Prevost from Chicago?

Whoever was elected, I’m sure I would have followed them casually for a while.

But somehow, I feel differently about Leo - because he is an American, and because America is at a point in time when a lot of things are in flux. Americans are rethinking who we are in the world and who we want to be to each other. We are reconsidering how our faith and our government interact and influence each other, and how our economic system lifts us up or keeps us down. Perhaps the Holy Spirit, by giving us an American pope, has something specific to say to us at this moment?

Americans, famously, are very committed to their democratic principles which are laid out in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Although we see ourselves as “one nation,” we are also a diverse people that sometimes struggles to be tolerant of our differences – of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, income, education level, disability, etc. The motto of the United States, our motto, is “e pluribus unum,” Latin for “Out of many, One.”

Americans are paying attention to this first American pope. That gives us an opportunity as a Faith to re-introduce ourselves. A chance for Catholics to hold a mirror up and look at who we are now, and who we want to be going forward. To assess, and perhaps change, how faithfully we are living out what we claim to believe, and to show that to our fellow Americans and the world.

This pope, Leo, born in America, educated in America at Catholic schools and universities, was formed here. Before he became a Peruvian missionary, or the Prior General of the Augustinians, or the Head of the Vatican Dicastery of Bishops, he was an American. He knows our history, our highest hopes and aspirations as a nation, and the flaws and blind spots that hold us back. Although he has lived abroad most of his adult years, he has many family members and friends that keep him connected to America. He’s not just a neutral bystander.

And so that has got me thinking. What does it mean to be an “American Catholic” at this moment? Or should I say, a “Catholic American?” Do we think of ourselves as citizens first, or people of faith first?

However we think of ourselves, we Catholics make up a significant part of this country we live in. Here are some things to know from an article entitled 10 Facts about U.S. Catholics published by the Pew Research Center on March 4, 2025:

• Today, 20% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholic, lower than the 24% that described themselves as Catholic in 2007. Catholics overall tend to be older than the average American; but Hispanic Catholics and Asian Catholics tend to be younger than White Catholics, and those first two groups are where the Church is growing the fastest.

• The ethnic mix of U.S. Catholics is changing. The share of White Catholics has dropped by 10% since 2007, while the share of Hispanic Catholics has risen by 7%; The current breakout is 54% White, 36% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 2% Black. Forty-four percent of US Catholics are either immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%).

• Catholics are spread out pretty evenly across the country: 29% live in the South, 26% in the Northeast, 25% in the West and 20% in the Midwest. 53% of Catholics identify with or lean Republican, while 43% lean Democrat, and 4% are unaffiliated, politically speaking.

• Just under 30% of Catholics say they attend Mass weekly or more often. That obviously means, 70% don’t. And not all Catholics agree with Church teaching on birth control, abortion, or the treatment of LGBTQ+ people within the Church. So, the Church has a lot of work to do reaching its own followers in the U.S.

• At the time of this article, Pope Francis was still living, and Americans in general (78%!) viewed him favorably. That positive impression gives Leo an opening advantage as he makes a first impression on Americans. He has big shoes to fill, but if anyone can build on that, he probably can.

Americans are paying attention. At least this American is.

Could the election of Pope Leo XIV, American Pope, be a call to conversion for Americans who are Catholics, to live out our faith more consistently, across more, if not all, areas of our lives? By this, I don’t mean we should be expecting/demanding that everyone in our country follow the teachings of our Faith, a la Christian Nationalism. That is one avenue that is extremely vulnerable to corruption, power-seeking and intolerance.

I mean - by living out our Faith personally, individually, in how we follow Jesus, how we love God and our neighbor, how we serve, sacrifice and defend the least, the lost and the littlest among us.

Pope Leo XIV wants all Catholics, all Christians, all people of good will, to be the people God longs for us to be, wherever we call home.

So, I am thinking about the following questions. 1) How have Americans who are Catholic formed their Catholic identity? What is the history of Catholicism in this country? What does it mean to be Catholic in America today?

I’ve read widely about this over the past few years. Trying to understand myself and my faith, and how that make me the person I am, the American I am.

I hope you’ll join me as I explore this important topic - Catholic in America.