In his first year as pope, Leo has emphasised peace, unity and social responsibility

When white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel on May 8 2025, the surprise was immediate. The Catholic Church’s leadership had elected its first pope born in the United States, a former Augustinian missionary in Peru who few expected to win.

One year later, the story is not about celebration or verdicts. It is about difficulty. Leo XIV’s first year reveals how hard it is to govern a global church shaped by division, reform and competing expectations.

That difficulty has not remained internal.

Leo’s interventions on war, migration and the meaning of a consistent pro-life ethic have drawn him into global politics, most sharply when US President Donald Trump attacked him and, in doing so, turned a cautious pope into an even more visible moral figure.

Criticism from Trump brought Leo unexpected attention – and, among many, a measure of admiration.

Read more: Pope Leo’s resolute response to Trump attack reveals a man of God, not politics

In terms of his role as pontiff, the pattern now emerging is clear. Leo is trying to combine Francis’s reform agenda with tighter structures, a stronger emphasis on unity, and a renewed stress on Catholic social teaching. Whether that balance can hold remains the central question of his pontificate.

Peace as a starting point

Leo’s priorities were clear from his first appearance.

Standing on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he greeted the crowd with the words, “Peace be with all of you”. He repeated that emphasis days later at his inauguration mass on May 18 2025, calling for a church marked by unity, dialogue and reconciliation.

Read more: ‘Peace be with all of you’: how Pope Leo XIV embodies a living dialogue between tradition and modernity

This language reflects both theology and experience. Before becoming pope, Robert Prevost spent decades working in Peru, including as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, where he dealt directly with poverty, migration and political tension. His instinct is pastoral and conciliatory.

But his first year as pope has shown that peace is not a theme that resolves conflict. It is a framework within which conflict must be managed.

Inheriting Francis, but not repeating Francis

Leo’s pontificate begins with a complex inheritance.

Pope Francis, who made Prevost a cardinal in 2023 and appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, left a church divided over reform.

Leo has not positioned himself as a simple continuation. His choice of name signals a shift. By invoking Leo XIII, author of Rerum Novarum (1891), he places Catholic social teaching at the centre of his agenda, particularly in response to artificial intelligence and technological change, which he has repeatedly described as a new kind of industrial revolution.

This reflects his formation. Trained as a canon lawyer in Rome and shaped by Augustinian spirituality, he combines legal precision with a theology of authority as service. The result is a pontificate that seeks continuity, but with clearer boundaries.

Reform

Leo’s early decisions show a preference for consolidation rather than expansion of reform.

In November 2025, he updated the Regulations of the Roman Curia, aligning them with Francis’s constitution Praedicate Evangelium. He also confirmed that leadership roles in Vatican City governance can be held by lay people, including women, removing earlier restrictions.

These moves build on Francis, but also regularise his reforms.

The same pattern appeared in January 2026, when Leo convened a consistory – a formal meeting of cardinals – and asked them to submit written reflections on key themes. He also proposed regular annual meetings of the College of Cardinals, signalling a more structured advisory model.

This reflects his background. As prior general of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013, he governed a global religious network, travelling widely and managing diversity through institutional processes rather than personal style alone.

A focus on social teaching

If governance reveals Leo’s method, social teaching reveals his focus.

In his first apostolic exhortation, he placed the poor, migrants and the vulnerable at the centre of Christian life. This is consistent with his earlier work in Peru, where he supported refugee communities and criticised political violence.

As pope, he has continued this line. He has opposed armed conflict, criticised nationalism and warned against the dehumanising effects of artificial intelligence. He has also reaffirmed Francis’s environmental teaching.

The Jubilee Year of 2025 gave him a global platform. With around 33 million pilgrims in Rome, he used the occasion to criticise consumerism and anti-foreigner sentiment, asking whether Christians truly recognise the stranger as a neighbour. This is not simply rhetoric. It is the core of his claim about the church’s role in the modern world.

Priorities

Leo’s travel choices reinforce that message.

His first apostolic journey, to Turkey and Lebanon in November and December 2025, combined ecumenical symbolism with diplomacy. The visit to Iznik in Turkey, site of the Council of Nicaea, marked the 1,700th anniversary of a foundational moment in Christian unity.

His April 2026 journey to Africa, covering Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, was even more revealing. It placed the church’s mission in the global south at the centre of his pontificate.

This reflects his own biography. As a dual citizen of the US and Peru, and a missionary shaped by Latin America, Leo embodies a church that is no longer centred on Europe alone.

Where tensions are sharpest

The real test of Leo’s approach lies in the controversies.

His comments linking abortion, capital punishment and the treatment of migrants into a single “pro-life” ethic provoked strong reactions, particularly in the United States. Critics argued these issues belong in different moral categories.

Debates around LGBTQ+ Catholics have exposed another fault line. Leo has signalled a more welcoming tone, while maintaining doctrinal continuity, including the church’s teaching on marriage. His caution reflects a broader concern: avoiding change through practice that appears to bypass formal teaching.

The abuse crisis remains the most serious challenge. Allegations relating to his earlier career, including his time in Peru and the US, have drawn scrutiny. While he has insisted on accountability and encouraged victims to come forward, the credibility of his leadership will depend on outcomes rather than statements.

Politics, power and pressure

Leo’s first year has also shown how quickly papal authority intersects with global politics.

As the first pontiff born in the US, his position carries geopolitical weight. His criticism of migration policies and armed conflict has brought him into tension with political leaders, including Trump, who publicly attacked him in 2026.

At the same time, Leo has maintained a consistent diplomatic line. He has called for ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, criticised military escalation in the Middle East, and warned against what he described as a “delusion of omnipotence” in global politics.

This places him in a familiar papal role, but in a more polarised international environment.

An emerging pattern, not a final verdict

After one year, Leo XIV’s pontificate is still taking shape.

He is a first in many ways: the first US-born pope, the first Augustinian pope, and a leader formed across two continents. But those facts matter less than the governing pattern now visible.

Leo speaks the language of peace, unity and social responsibility, while trying to stabilise reform and maintain doctrinal continuity. His approach is cautious, structured and shaped by experience rather than dramatic gestures.

The tensions of this first year are not distractions. They are the reality of the church he now leads, and the measure of whether his attempt to hold it together can succeed.