On Thursday, May 8, Robert Francis Prevost was chosen as the new Pope more than a fortnight after the death of Pope Francis. Provost, who will further be known as Pope Leo XIV, greeted the crowd with a wide smile at the Vatican and made the world wonder if he is anything like his predecessor. While some of his older remarks are making headlines and pushing followers to believe that he might be a conservative, some of his recent stances on global issues are being complimented.
So, what is there to know about the new Pope? Will he be anything like Pope Francis? Here's what we know.
On same-sex couples
Pope Francis was widely loved and hailed for a great many things, but above all was his inclusive mindset towards the LGBTQ community. However, soon after the new Pope was chosen, Catholics from the LGBTQ community went back to an old statement that Pope Leo XIV had made more than a decade ago. The new pope's old statement soon gained virality. In the statement, he had condemned homosexual relationships and lifestyles and had said that it is "the redefinition of marriage" and is "at odds with the Gospel."
As per reports, Pope Leo XIV, who was a bishop in Peru between the years 2015 and 2023, was opposed to gender studies being taught in school. Another one of his old statements that is making news at the moment is "gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don't exist," which is a stark contrast to Pope Francis' famous "Who am I to judge?" when he was asked about gay clerics and blessing same-sex couples.
However, Pope Leo XIV has taken a very progressive view in terms of allowing women to work in the church. Back in 2023, during an interview with Vatican Media, he spoke about women being in church leadership and said, "Their opinion introduces another perspective and becomes an important contribution to the process" he had also added, "real, genuine, and meaningful participation."
On immigrants
When Pope Leo XIV was in Peru, he received a lot of appreciation for taking the support of Venezuelan immigrants. In fact, recently, the new Pope took a stance against JD Vance on deportation laws on X (formerly known as Twitter) from an account that has been linked to him in February 2025 and said, "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
On sexual abuse scandals
In terms of handling church sexual abuse scandals, reports have emerged that his style of dealing with them in both the U.S. and Peru had been questioned. Talking about the same, the Times had quoted him saying "still much to learn" and had also clearly specified, "silence is not the solution."
The Times reported that Pope Leo's communication style is much more relaxed than Francis'.
