China, finances and a culture clash the challenges facing Pope Leo XIV

We have, for the first time, an American pope.What that means for the Catholic Church could prove unpredictable.The hopeful case is that the new Holy Father will come prepared to tackle two major challenges for the church: its rickety financial and management structure and its internal divisions.He is regarded as a capable administrator, having been given a great many positions of responsibility over 43 years as a priest.

He has also been seen in the past as a low-key conciliator who chooses his words with care.A pope who handles the unglamorous management work well and calms the waters of controversy could free parish priests and Catholics in the pews to focus on the important business of the faith.The worry, given how the new pope has been cheered in progressive quarters, is that he’ll continue some of his predecessor’s bad habits, which frequently left faithful Catholics wondering what might change on them next.The new pope has also often been publicly odds with Donald Trump and JD Vance, especially over immigration — conflicts that could initially overshadow his spiritual work, but may be long forgotten if the 69-year-old enjoys a long tenure in the chair of St.Peter.Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was born in Chicago in 1955 and has lived in the city for most of the American portion of his life, with the exception of earning his college degree in math from Villanova.He’s the first Augustinian friar to be elected pontiff, a major feather in the cap of the distinguished order that runs Villanova.

He served two terms as the Prior General, the head of the Augustinians.He’s not a provincial Midwesterner.One Italian newspaper described him as “the least American of the Americans.”Fluent in Spanish and Italian, he introduced himself in both languages in his first appearance as pope without speaking a word of English.He spent almost quarter-century in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop, earning popularity with th...