Crossroads Podcast: Reading Between The Lines Of Pope Leo’s Comments

It’s time to play “spot the headline,” a game that I have — for decades — watched mainstream journalists play as they cover the Pope of Rome.

Professionals play this game whenever popes release encyclicals, deliver addresses, preach sermons, grant interviews or interact with the press in less formal settings. With the late Pope Francis, these press encounters frequently took place on Shepherd One as he flew back to Rome after visiting a foreign country.

The other day, the cautious Pope Leo XIV was ambushed by reporters — but agreed to take a few questions. That led to the Washington Post headline that was the hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast: “Pope makes rare comments on U.S. politics, military gathering.”

When playing “spot the headline,” one is first required to find the specific comment — the “sound bite” — that journalists will consider the most newsworthy thing that the pope said. Here is how I described that process in a GetReligion.org post after a 2013 papal tour.

The pope is abroad. This means, of course, that it is time to look at the papal texts … and play a mainstream-media game that can accurately be called “spot the political sound bite.”

The key to this game is that, no matter why the pope is … speaking to a particular audience, it must be assumed that the lasting impact of his trip will be related to real life in the real world, which for all too many journalists means politics. Period.

Now, it is possible that, should the pope address a social and cultural issue that is related to public life, journalists have a chance to discuss theology and politics at the same time.

But politics is the lens through which the pope’s words will be viewed, because politics is the true religion of the people who run most newsrooms. It really helps if there is any possible link between papal remarks and American politics.

Here is the top of that Washington Post story. This is long, but essential:

ROME — Making a rare foray into U.S. politics, Pope Leo XIV described the blustery talk by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a meeting of military commanders on Tuesday as “concerning,” and he called out those who describe themselves as “pro-life” for opposing abortion but do not reject the “inhuman treatment” of migrants and the death penalty.

Since becoming pope, Leo has largely kept his distance from the news media. But in an unusual interaction late Tuesday outside his Castel Gandolfo residence in Italy, the pontiff fielded several questions from reporters, including one about the extraordinary, hastily convened meeting of senior military leaders in the United States that day, at which Trump and Hegseth gave highly partisan speeches. Leo shook his head in apparent distaste.

“This way of speaking is concerning, because it shows, every time, an increase of tension,” Leo said in Italian. “This wording, like going from minister of defense to minister of war. Let’s hope it’s just a figure of speech. Of course, there you have a style of governance meaning to show strength, so as to pile up pressure. Let’s hope this works and that there isn’t war. One always needs to work toward peace.”

Leo, however, also called the Trump administration’s proposed peace plan for Gaza “realistic” and said he hoped it would be “accepted.”

Count the important topics that were jammed into the lede on this story.

Why did the unusual gathering of U.S. military leaders dominate the headline, as opposed to Leo’s comments over theological debates linked to topics such as abortion, the death penalty and abortion? The Post report immediately explained why that happened:

Marco Politi, a senior Rome-based Vatican watcher, said: “I think it is the sharpest criticism — until today — toward the Trumpist ideology. [But] Leo is balanced. He supported the Trump peace plan for Gaza.”

In other words, the most important thing a pope can do, right now, is criticize President Donald Trump.

But here is the theme I want to explore in this post, which is Pope Leo XIV’s unique way of addressing controversial issues without tipping his doctrinal hand in public.

In other words, it appears that the new pope is trying to avoid making headlines. That’s a radically different way of doing business, after the shoot-from-the-hip style of Pope Francis.

Thus, the Post report noted that, after offering vague criticism of Trump’s military team, the pope immediately offered praise for the president’s push for peace in Gaza.

However, it’s important to note that the pope also offered important comments, much more theological in nature, about a topic that has divided progressive and traditional Catholics for decades — abortion.

In this quick press encounter, a reporter from the Catholic news organization EWTN asked Pope Leo about the decision by Cardinal Blase Cupich to offer U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin a lifetime achievement award. The Catholic senator, a Democrat, has been a strong voice on immigration issues, as well as a strong defender of abortion.

A circle of Catholic bishops made it clear that they thought the award clashed with Catholic social teachings. The Pillar has reported that their efforts were about poised to go public, perhaps in a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Let’s wade into the pope’s response:

Switching to English, the pontiff said while he was “not terribly familiar with the particular case,” it was “very important to look at the overall work a senator has done during, if I am not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate.” Durbin has served more than 40 years in Congress, 28 as a senator. He is retiring from the Senate after his current term ends in January 2027.

Leo — who was born in Illinois and became a priest in 1982 before working as a missionary in Peru and rising to become bishop of Chiclayo — said it is important to look at “many issues” regarding the teaching of the church.

“Someone who says, ‘I am against abortion, but says, ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro life,” he said. “Someone who says that, ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life. So they’re very complex issues.”

Many American Catholics will note that Leo, without being explicit, drew on the “Seamless Garment” arguments of the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who was a powerful voice in U.S. Catholic life during the era in which Leo came of age in the church.

Catholics frequently debate whether the church’s doctrines are as clearly stated on the death penalty as they are on the taking of unborn life. Leo stated that he accepts the connection between the two: “Someone who says, ‘I am against abortion, but says, ‘I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life.”

But what about immigration? Look again at Leo’s choice of words:

“Someone who says that, ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life. So they’re very complex issues.”

Yes, “I don’t know” is careful language, to say the least. Also, when saying that equating abortion with immigration is “very complex,” the pope may be making a reference to discussions of legal immigration, as opposed to illegal immigration.

It’s hard to tell, isn’t it? Complex, cautious statements of this kind do not produce bold headlines.

Facing rising opposition from U.S. bishops, Durbin declined the award, offering Cardinal Cupich a chance to avoid a clash with his brother bishops.

In the podcast, I noted that the Chicago cardinal — whose retirement is currently pending in Rome — has been at the center of many major fiery debates in recent years on topics such as blessing gay unions, urban violence, the modernization of Catholic liturgy, immigration, etc.

For more background, see these two “On Religion” columns: “Father’s Day Mass in Pride month — Gay dads celebrate the faith of their Catholic parish” and “Farewell to the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel — Yes, the Latin Mass wars are escalating.”

At the moment, when dealing with many important issues in the American church, all roads lead to Chicago — Pope Leo’s home town.

Clearly, he is trying to be cautious, while avoiding hot headlines. Will he be successful?

Headlines have a way of popping up, no matter what Catholic leaders say or do not say.

Consider, for example, this anecdote from a USCCB press conference early in my journalism career. The hot topic of the day was nuclear weapons, as in follow-up debates linked to the bishops’ controversial 1983 document “The Challenge of Peace.” Cardinal Bernardin was, as always, the strongest voice in the debates.

While debating whether it was morally acceptable to use the threat of nuclear weapons as a way of maintaining peace, the bishops suddenly decided to address the topic in a passage written in Latin. Needless to say, this made it hard for journalists to follow what was going on.

In the press conference, I asked Cardinal Bernardin if — by switching to Latin — the bishops had attempted to “launch a preemptive strike on American headline writers.”

After a long pause, Bernardin smiled and said one word — “Yes.”

Enjoy the podcast and, please, pass it along to others.