Pope Leo the 14th marks his first year leading the Catholic Church on Friday with greater public visibility and a more intense agenda, having become more emphatic on the world stage and drawing the ire of United States President Donald Trump.
The first American-born pope, who sharply denounced war and despotism on a recent four-nation tour of Africa, is expected to release his first deeper doctrinal document this month and is preparing for a weeklong trip to Spain in June.
Leão, who kept a relatively low profile in his first 10 months as pope before drawing attacks from Trump after criticizing the US and Israeli war against Iran, will also make five trips to Italy through July.
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As the pace picks up, the pope is likely to maintain the energetic new tone he debuted in Africa, experts said, as the Vatican is increasingly concerned about the direction of global leadership.
‘Pope Leo has become the singular clarion voice in our global community on the need for peace and safeguarding human dignity,’ Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy, a close ally of the pope, told Reuters.
“(Leo) has demonstrated an increasing willingness to apply the Gospel with specificity to the egregious human rights violations that surround us,” McElroy said, referring to the biblical chapters describing the life of Jesus.
The pope is scheduled to meet Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his first known in-person meeting with a member of Trump’s cabinet in nearly a year.
Rubio looks forward to a ‘frank conversation’ with Leo to discuss the Trump administration’s policies, the US ambassador to the Holy See said on Tuesday, as Trump again criticized the pope on Hugh Hewitt’s right-wing radio show.
He was an almost unknown figure
Leo, former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was chosen by the world’s cardinals on May 8, 2025, to lead the 1.4 billion-member Church after a secret two-day conclave in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
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He succeeded Pope Francis, who, in a 12-year term, largely sought to open the often inflexible institution to the modern world.
Prevost, who spent decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru before becoming a senior Vatican official in 2023, was a low-key supporter of Francis’ papacy but a relative unknown on the world stage. He was on some lists of possible new popes, but was not seen as a leading candidate.
In his first months, Leão largely avoided controversial issues. But he began criticizing Trump’s hardline immigration policies in September, drawing backlash from conservative Catholics in the US.
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After he criticized the war in Iran, Trump bombarded him with insults on social media, calling him ‘weak’ and ‘terrible’.
On his 10-day trip to Africa in April, the pope warned that the whims of the world’s richest threaten peace, condemned violations of international law by ‘neocolonial’ global powers and said the world was ‘being ravaged by a handful of tyrants’.
Leão later clarified to reporters that the speeches for the tour were written weeks before the trip and were not directly aimed at Trump.
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Visiting Lampedusa, but not the US
Leo will spend his first birthday visiting the Italian cities of Pompeii and Naples, about 250km south of Rome, where he will pay respects at a Catholic shrine and lead several events.
The trip is the first of five within Italy, culminating on July 4 with a visit to Lampedusa, an island south of Sicily known lately as the first port of call for desperate migrants making the perilous journey from North Africa to Europe.
The choice to visit the island on the day the US celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence drew attention, at a time when the Trump administration says Europe faces ‘civilizational erasure’ for allowing immigration. The visit was announced in February, shortly after the Vatican said Leo would not travel to his home country this year.
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Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago told CBS News in April that by going to the island, the pope is “sending a message that his main priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalized.”
The Vatican has not announced a publication date for the pope’s first in-depth doctrinal document, known as an encyclical, but it is expected to be published before the end of May.
The text is expected to address a range of ethical challenges facing the world, including the rise of artificial intelligence. The pope will also likely speak about the world’s ongoing conflicts and his leadership.
David Gibson, a Vatican expert and academic at Fordham University, said Leo will address universal values and not just Trump or any other specific leader.
“If a particular leader feels attacked by Leo’s words, perhaps that is his problem and not the pope’s,” Gibson said.
