After a brief, two-day deliberation, a new pope to lead the Catholic Church has been selected to succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21. Robert Prevost, the first American Pope in history, took the name Pope Leo XIV, and appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening.
Much remains to be seen on where Pope Leo will stand on key issues—the cardinal is known to be reserved. But he is steering the Catholic Church at a time where the world is facing a number of pivotal crises—from geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, to global issues regarding migration, human rights, and the climate crisis.
Read More: Where Pope Leo Stands on Specific Issues
Global leaders including U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hope that, when it comes to the climate crisis, Leo might take up the mantle of Pope Francis, whose strong climate advocacy earned him the moniker of “the Climate Pope.” An invitation has also already been extended to Pope Leo to attend this year’s COP30 U.N. climate conference in Brazil.
Little is known about Pope Leo’s commitment to environmental activism, but some indications show that he might be willing to prioritize the climate fight.
Last year, speaking at a Rome seminar to discuss the global impacts of the climate crisis, Prevost said that it was time to move “from words to action,” according to an article published by the Vatican’s official news source.
“‘Dominion over nature’—the task which God gave humanity—should not become ‘tyrannical.’ It must be a ‘relationship of reciprocity’ with the environment,” the Vatican News described him saying.
Following this week’s announcement, a handful of influential global decision makers expressed their optimism that Pope Leo might continue on with Pope Francis’s climate legacy.
“Our world is in need of the strongest voices for peace, social justice, human dignity and compassion,” said Guterres. “I look forward to building on the long legacy of cooperation between the United Nations and the Holy See – nurtured most recently by Pope Francis – to advance solidarity, foster reconciliation, and build a just and sustainable world for all.”
No time was wasted in inviting the new Pope to this year’s annual U.N. climate summit. “The COP30 Presidency hopes to welcome Pope Leo XIV in Belém in November to help us reach a climate agreement that will mark a turning point in the creation of a more prosperous, safer, fairer, and sustainable future,” Ana Toni, the summit’s CEO, said in a statement.
And in a statement posted on Thursday, Brazil’s Lula da Silva also expressed hope that Pope Leo might continue in the footsteps of his predecessor on several fronts—including climate. Brazil, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, is already facing the impacts of the climate crisis. “I hope that he will continue the legacy of Pope Francis, whose main virtues were the incessant search for peace and social justice, the defense of the environment, dialogue with all peoples and all religions, and respect for the diversity of human beings.”
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