Book Details Foreign Efforts to Influence 2025 Papal Conclave

A new book reveals details of the diplomatic and lobbying efforts that preceded the election of Pope Leo XIV in May 2025. The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis, written by veteran Vatican reporters Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Pique, reports that several foreign leaders and organizations tried to influence cardinals ahead of the conclave.

In an April 13 social media post, Trump called the pope weak on crime and foreign policy. He added that he did not want a pope who criticizes the president. The book states that the recently ousted prime minister of Hungary used his ambassador to the Holy See to promote a cardinal from Budapest.

On the other side, the French president hosted cardinals during his visit to Rome for the previous pope's funeral to advocate for a French archbishop who shared his worldview. An American organization focused on free-market principles spent money in Rome to encourage the selection of a pope unlike the previous one, who had criticized extreme capitalism and the fossil fuel industry.

The cardinals elected Robert Prevost, an American who had spent two decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru. Born in Chicago, he had experience addressing conflicts within the church and in Peruvian society stemming from two civil wars. Observers expected continuity with the previous pope's emphasis on economic justice, the environment, inter-religious dialogue and world peace, combined with traditional teaching on life and sexuality issues.

In the year since his election, Pope Leo XIV has spoken against the use of religion to justify military, economic or political gain. " The statement was made after he had denounced a war involving Iran. The pope has described himself as unafraid of speaking on gospel matters regardless of administration reactions.

He has also worked to strengthen ties with American Catholics. Catholics.

XIV is preparing his first encyclical, expected within days, on the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence and other technologies. The document will address how such advances can atomize societies and affect working people. The pope views the current global economy as more unequal and the international environment as more dangerous than at any time since World War II.

His choice of name recalls Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed industrial change and asserted the primacy of labor over capital. Pope Leo XIV sees parallels in the present technological transformation. The cardinals who elected him had largely been appointed by the previous pope, who had selected about 80 percent of those eligible to vote.

They chose to project an American voice shaped by pastoral experience among the poor and in conflict zones rather than one aligned with the preferences expressed by some foreign leaders before the conclave.