Pope Leo XIV—born Robert Prevost—is the first American Pope. His election on May 8 signals a shift in the world order of the Church—a shift that many people did not believe would happen anytime soon. But as the once improbable has become reality, Pope Leo XIV must now choose how he will lead the Church—and the some 1.4 billion Catholics across the globe—and how to build on Pope Francis’s work.
Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at 88 years-old, was known for prioritizing inclusivity—if an imperfect inclusivity—and his push to globalize the Catholic Church. He accomplished much during his 12 year tenure, including making the College of Cardinals more global, making the Catholic Church more inclusive, and centralizing the Vatican on climate emergencies.
Yet, that does not mean his challenges were not plentiful, and that the new Pope is not left without a complicated legacy to contend with.
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Here are some of the challenges that newly elected Pope Leo XIV will face as he takes up the mantle of Pope. The world will be watching to see whether he follows in the footsteps of Francis—or shifts the course of the Catholic community’s priorities as drastically as his predecessor did.
LGBTQ+ Catholics
Pope Francis began his more inclusive papacy by dealing with unrelenting pressures from the more conservative side of the Catholic Church—especially those in the United States—over his championing the poor, migrants, and the environment, as well as his more nuanced take on LGBTQ+ individuals in the church and gay marriage.
Though Francis never changed official doctrines of The Church, he was more publicly inclusive of the LGBTQ Catholic Church than ever before seen by a Pope, supporting civil unions and meeting with LGBTQ+ groups.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis famously said in 2013, a bombshell of a quote.
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Francis ruled in 2023 that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples, and earlier that same year he signed a document that allowed transgender people to be baptized and to serve as godparents.
Though these were landmark decisions, they did not come without a price. Francis had to contend with conservatives deeply angered by his reform and a bureaucracy that fought tooth and nail to prevent it from happening. Pope Leo XIV must decide now whether he will follow Francis’s path of continuing to include LGBTQ Catholics, or chart a different course. Though the New York Times reports that the new Pope is less welcoming than Francis when it comes to gay Catholics, in 2012 he was quoted as saying that some Western values offer sympathy for things that are “at odds with the gospel,” pointing to the “homosexual lifestyle.” Time will tell, though, whether Pope Leo XIV’s leadership at the highest level will differ from these comments made prior to Francis’s recent reforms.
Sexual Abuse
Francis assumed the role of Pope as media attention of the systematic cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was at a height—with many instances coming to light under his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. In the first years of his Papacy, Francis was criticized for his failure to act against sexual abuse in The Church, but in later years he attempted to reform his policies. He even was quoted as telling Chilean victims of clerical sexual abuse that he himself “was part of the problem” and apologised for dismissing accusations of a cover-up by Catholic bishops.
In 2019, Francis publicly acknowledged the problem of the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops and also warned against psychological and spiritual abuses of sisters.
The Catholic community’s contentious history with sexual abuse, and its coordinated efforts to cover these instances up, remains an ongoing issue. And it’s one Pope Leo XIV will not be able to avoid. Proir to becoming Pope while leading the Diocese of Chiclayo, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group, accused Pope Leo XIV—born Prevost—of covering up sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
Now that he’s leading the entire religious community, Pope Leo XIV’s priorities regarding addressing and acting upon allegations of sexual abuse against priests and other Catholic leadership will come under further scrutiny.
Women in the Church
Included within the tent of Pope Francis’s inclusivity was a movement towards more equality for women in the church—equality that comes as nun populations have declined over the past few decades.
In 2023, Francis for the first time allowed women to vote at a significant meeting of bishops—a profound reform that the new Pope Leo XIV presided over. But, the Pope will have to deal with some wider questions that Francis left unanswered about the role of women in the Church, including one of the fiercest ongoing debates: whether women should be allowed to become deacons, and if eventually this is a pathway for them to become priests.
Geographic Diversity of Catholic Community
The Catholic Church—and the College of Cardinals—look very different since Francis became Pope in 2013. This 2025 conclave was the most geographically diverse conclave in history, a legacy in part brought about by Pope Francis, who consistently emphasized the importance of this diversity, dismissing the idea that nationality or geography should determine who became Pope.
Though Europe is still over-represented in the College of Cardinals, says the Pew Research Center, the more geographically diverse leadership shows the changing and growing influence of Africa and Asia in the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American Pope—following Francis’s reign as the first Latin American Pope—only further highlights this globalization. Leo is a Peruvian-American who was born in Chicago, but spent much of his life and Catholic leadership in Europe and Peru. He worked for 20 years in Peru—the first 10 of which were Trujillo, Peru, after which he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023. Since then, he held an incredibly influential Vatican post, serving in Rome as head of Francis’s main advisory group on picking new Bishops. With ties to America, South America and Europe, his reach is wide-ranging.
The post The Biggest Challenges Pope Leo XIV Faces appeared first on TIME.
