How will Pope Leo XIV handle climate?

He's left a few clues. He dropped more today at his Inaugural Mass. But if you expect he'll be Pope Greta, or Francis II, you will be disappointed.

Remember when a multi-racial guy from Chicago who’d spent a chunk of his life in the Global South became the most important American in the world? And many of us projected onto him all our hopes that he’d do the radical transformations needed to fix our biggest problems?

And then were disappointed?

Consider that context and know I’m keeping in mind if one thinks I’m stanning for the multi-racial guy from Chicago who spent a chunk of his life in the Global South and is now the leader of a Church of 1.4 billion people (unsure whether that counts the lapsed like me).

Francis’ Climate Precedent

Twelve years ago, when Jorge Cardinal Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires became Pope Francis, his Inaugural Mass homily offered very strong clues¹, in light of things he did and said later, that seemed to set a clear theme for his pontificate. In that 1400-word speech,…