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A week into the papacy of Pope Leo XIV—the first U.S.-born pope—hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell take stock of the emerging contours and dimensions of his leadership. They begin with his private meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and what it might suggest about his diplomatic approach amid tensions between the Vatican and the U.S. over issues like migration and climate. They then turn to his emotional inauguration Mass, where the pope quoted St. Augustine, received the woolen pallium and fought back tears as the Fisherman’s Ring was placed on his finger. Finally, they consider how his early private audiences, formal speeches and video messages suggest a papacy in continuity with Pope Francis, yet possibly distinguished by a more scripted, deliberate style and a gift for expressing ideas with arresting elegance. One phrase he has already repeated might offer a defining glimpse into his papal politic: “disarmed and disarming.”

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The opening message of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy