The labels commonly applied to popes don’t adhere to Leo XIV. He is neither a revolutionary like Francis, nor a restorer like Benedict XVI.

“Reformer” and “reactionary” don’t fit him either.

Instead, what is slowly coming into focus one month after his May 8 election is a generational change in leadership — an “original” pontificate, one can say, led by a quietly capable shepherd who prioritizes continuity yet also possesses the grounded demeanor, bridge-building aptitude and independent vision to set his own course.

“Generational,” because he is the first pope since Vatican II who was not in seminary or already a priest at the time of the Council. That fact gives the first U.S.-born Pope a measure of detachment from the great conciliar debates and controversies of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. In this context, his choice of a papal name takes on added significance, since he wisely has associated himself with the last Leo, the founding father of Catholic social doctrine who reigned more than a century ago, rather than a more proximate predecessor.

At the same time, that choice of affiliation speaks to an independent spirit many people seem to appreciate about the new Holy Father.

From the first moments of his pontificate, Leo has placed an emphasis on communicating continuity with Pope Francis, who pointedly did the opposite.

The new Pope has repeatedly cited Francis in his early homilies, embracing the call for a synodal Church, for example, and making a point to pray at his predecessor’s tomb.

At the same time, he has sent clear signals that he is his own man.

One notable way he has done so is by taking up all the signs of papal power. He has worn the mozzetta, the red cape that falls halfway down his shoulder, since he first appeared on the Loggia of the Blessings. More recently, he has begun to wear white trousers under his cassock. He did this not as a sign of opposition to Pope Francis, who famously donned black trousers, but rather to lend strength and importance to the signs and symbols of the institutional Church.

Another signal came in his homily on June 1 on the occasion of the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, when Leo cited the encyclical Humanae Vitae of St. Paul VI in observing “that marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful. This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.”

In their simplicity, these words mark a change of direction from the previous pontificate, since in Francis’ contested post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Christian marriage was repeatedly cited as an ideal.

Like Francis, Leo recognizes the imperative to go to the peripheries. Yet as a longtime missionary in Peru, he already has highlighted the evangelizing work that must be done there.

In the Missa Pro Ecclesia, his first Mass as Pope, celebrated with the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on May 9, Leo XIV noted that there are “contexts in which the Christian faith is considered something absurd, for weak and unintelligent people; contexts in which other securities are preferred to it, such as technology, money, success, power, pleasure.”

The Pope reaffirmed the commitment of the mission in those places, because “the lack of faith often brings with it tragedies such as the loss of the meaning of life, the forgetting of mercy, the violation of the dignity of the person in its most dramatic forms, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

For Leo, the mission is anchored in the truth of the Christian message. On May 16, meeting for the first time with the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Leo XIV placed truth alongside peace and justice as pillars of the Holy See's diplomatic commitment.

“The Church can never refrain from telling the truth about man and the world,” he said, “resorting when necessary to frank language, which may give rise to some initial misunderstanding.”

Although one can sense a paradigm shift from Pope Francis’ focus on evangelizing by speaking the language of the world, Leo XIV is not showing any opposition to his predecessor. This is not a pontificate against or in favor of something, but rather one of mission.

The Government Line

Mission-focused continuity also underscores his early approach to governance.

For now, he has maintained the appointments already established with the previous pontificate, including Francis’ appointment of Franciscan Sister of the Poor Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia’s exit from the Pontifical Academy for Life and from his role as chancellor of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family was expected, as he had turned 80. The Pope entrusted the chancellery of the institute to Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the Pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome and, therefore, also chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University, prefiguring a union between the institute and the university. He also confirmed Msgr. Philippe Bordeyne, president of the institute, for another four years. At the Academy for Life, Leo XIV also chose continuity, promoting the chancellor, Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro.

Yet a generational change is coming. In addition to having to choose his successor at the Dicastery for Bishops, he will have to replace the prefects of the Causes of Saints, Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Promotion of Christian Unity, Integral Human Development, the Laity, Family, and Life — all of whom are beyond the retirement age of 75.

Any pope, however, will operate according to priorities. As he assembles his own team, Leo must confront the need to introduce a government-like modus operandi into the Church to address some complex dossiers, particularly regarding the Sino-Vatican agreement. The next round of meetings on that issue was expected to take place as early as next week.

We know from Leo’s leadership record as the head of the Augustinians, bishop and prefect that he favors establishing a structured, priority-driven governance over micromanagement or sweeping early changes. He will intervene when he deems it appropriate, as he has already made known to those who, as always happens at the beginning of a pontificate, have shown up at his door to present some requests.

He will not make decisions to be popular; he will not make hasty decisions.

The Future of the Church

In ordaining 11 priests for the Diocese of Rome on May 31, Leo XIV called for “lives that are known, lives that are readable, credible lives!”

“We are within the people of God to be able to stand before them with a credible testimony,” he continued. “Together, then, we will rebuild the credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity within a wounded creation. We are not yet perfect, but it is necessary to be credible.”

In this way, the Pope did not point the finger at unfaithful priests but instead asked everyone to be faithful. In this, too, we can recognize his modus operandi for governing the Church. First, faith, and then infrastructure, whether liturgical, historical or social. Leo can do this precisely because he is the Pope of a new generation.

Pope Benedict XVI had stated, in the book-interview Salt of the Earth with Peter Seewald that he was still a man of the old world, but the new world had not yet begun.

It has begun with this Pontiff. He is a Pope of three worlds: American, missionary in Latin America, and profound connoisseur of Roman reality.