A year into papacy, Pope Leo finds his ‘clarion voice’

VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo marks his first year leading the Catholic Church on May 8 with a higher public profile and a ramped-up schedule, having grown more outspoken on the world stage and drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump.

The first US-born Pope, who sharply denounced war and despotism on a recent four-nation Africa tour, is expected to release his first in-depth teaching document in May and is preparing for a one-week trip to Spain in June.

Pope Leo, who maintained a relatively low profile in his first 10 months as Pope before attracting attacks from Mr Trump after criticising the US-Israeli war on Iran, is also making five trips inside Italy through July.

As the pace picks up, the Pope is likely to keep up the new forceful tone he debuted in Africa, experts said, as the Vatican has grown concerned about the direction of global leadership.

“Pope Leo has become the singular clarion voice in our global community about the need for peace and safeguarding human dignity,” Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy, a close papal ally, told Reuters.

“(Pope Leo) has shown an ever-growing willingness to apply the Gospel with specificity to the glaring violations of human rights that surround us," said Cardinal McElroy, referring to the Bible chapters describing the life of Jesus.

The Pope is due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 7, in his first known in-person meeting with a Trump Cabinet member in nearly a year.

Mr Rubio expects a “frank conversation” with Pope Leo to discuss Trump administration policies, the US Ambassador to the Holy See said on May 5, as Mr Trump again criticised the Pope on right-wing radio talk show The Hugh Hewitt Show.

Largely unknown figure at start of papacy

Pope Leo, the former cardinal Robert Prevost, was selected by the world’s cardinals on May 8, 2025, to lead the 1.4 billion-member Church after a two-day secret conclave in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

He succeeded Pope Francis, who largely sought over a 12-year tenure to open the often-staid institution to the modern world.

The former cardinal Prevost, who spent decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru before becoming a senior Vatican official in 2023, was a quiet supporter of Pope Francis’ papacy but a relative unknown on the world stage. He was on some lists of possible new popes but not widely seen as a front runner.

In his first months as Pope, he largely steered clear of hot-button issues. But he began criticising Mr Trump’s hard-line immigration policies in September 2025, drawing backlash from conservative US Catholics.

After he criticised the war in Iran, Mr Trump bombarded him with insults on social media, calling him “weak” and “terrible”.

On his 10-day Africa trip in April, the Pope warned that the whims of the world’s richest threaten peace, decried violations of international law by “neocolonial” global powers, and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.

Pope Leo later clarified to reporters that the speeches for the tour were written weeks ahead of the trip and not aimed directly at Mr Trump.

Visit to island known as migrants’ port of call

Pope Leo will spend his first anniversary visiting the Italian cities of Pompei and Naples, about 250km south of Rome, where he will pay homage at a Catholic shrine and lead several events.

The trip is the first of five inside Italy culminating on July 4 with a visit to Lampedusa, an island south of Sicily lately known as the first port of call for desperate migrants making the perilous voyage from North Africa to Europe.

The choice to visit the island on the day the US celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence has drawn attention, at a time when the Trump administration says Europe faces “civilisational erasure” from allowing immigration.

The visit was announced in February, shortly after the Vatican said Pope Leo would not travel to his home country in 2026

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich told CBS News in April that by going to the island, the pope is “sending a message that his top priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalised”.

The Vatican has not announced the publishing date for the Pope’s first in-depth teaching document, known as an encyclical, but it is widely expected to come out before the end of May.

The text is expected to address a number of ethical challenges facing the world, including the rise of artificial intelligence. The Pope will likely also speak about the world’s ongoing conflicts and its leadership.

Mr David Gibson, a Vatican expert and academic at Fordham University, said Pope Leo will address universal values and not just Mr Trump or any other specific leader.

“If a particular leader feels attacked by Leo’s words, maybe that is their problem and not the Pope’s,” said Mr Gibson. REUTERS