POPE Leo XIV gave a mysterious six-word for Catholics in the United States.
Robert Prevost, the newly announced pope, responded to a reporter who asked if he had any comments for his home country, the US.
“Holy Father! Father―any message for the United States,” a NewsNation reporter asked.
“Many,” the pontiff laughed as he replied.
“May god bless you all!”
Pope Leo XIV is the first American pope to be named, representing the 53 million Catholics living in the US.
However, since he was elected pontiff on May 8, many have speculated about his relationship with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The pope shared an article criticizing Vance’s comments about a hierarchy of who you love in Christianity on a social media account under his name.
“A Christian principle suggests that you should first love your family, then extend that love to your neighbors, followed by your community, fellow citizens, and only after that, you consider the rest of the world,” Vance stated on January 29.
“A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”
An article titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others” contends that scriptures promote the idea of loving everyone equally.
Pope Leo XIV has also reposted articles criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on immigration.
In April, the then-Cardinal shared an article written by a Catholic writer that asked if Trump “saw the suffering” caused by his policies.
“Is your conscience not disturbed?” a Catholic church analyst, Rocco Palmo, wrote.
“How can you stay quiet?”
Prevost has echoed the statements of his predecessor, Pope Francis, about the treatment of immigrants in the US.
“I have been closely monitoring the significant crisis occurring in the United States regarding the commencement of a mass deportation program,” Francis wrote in his letter, which was published in February 2025.
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.
The new Pope’s speech in full
Here is Leo XIV’s speech from the Vatican balcony in full:
Peace be with all of you
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of Christ resurrected, the good pastor who gave life for the Lord and I would also like this greeting of peace to come into your hearts and join everyone, whoever they are, all peoples on the whole earth, peace be with you.
This is the peace of Christ resurrected, it’s a peace that’s disarming, humble and will also persevere and it comes from God, God who loves all of us unconditionally.
And let us keep hearing even the weak voices and Pope Francis was always courageous and blessed Rome.
The pope that blessed Rome, he is blessing the whole world on that Easter morning. So let us follow up that blessing.
God loves us, God loves all of you, sin will not prevail, we are all in the hands of God.
And at the same time without fear, let us be reunited hand in hand with God and amongst ourselves let’s move forward because we are the disciples of Christ, Christ preceded us, the world needs your light, humanity needs him as a bridge in order to be able to get to God and reach God’s love.
You must also help us and help one another. And we all must be a single peoples.
I would also like to thank all my brother cardinals who have chosen me to be the successor to Peter and to walk together with you as a united church always trying to find peace, justice and always trying to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ without fear and also to be missionaries.
I am a son of St Augustin, I am Christian with you and to that extent we can all walk together towards that land that God has prepared us for.
To the church of Rome, I would like to give you a speciial greeting. Together we must try to find out how to be a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive on this piazza with open arms to anyone that needs our charity, our presents, dialogue and love.
And I would just like also t osay something in Spanish. I particularly like to say hello to my compatriots in Peru
To all of you, brothers and sisters, of Rome, the whole world, we need to be a church that walks a path of peace, that always looks for charity, that is always looking to be close especially to those that are suffering
Today, the day in which we pray to the Madonna of Pompeii, our mother Mary always wants to stay close to us and help us with her love and her intercession.
Let us pray together, this new mission, for the whole church, and for peace throughout the world.
And let’s ask for this special grace for Mary, our mother. Hail Mary
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.”
Prevost reposted the letter, supporting Francis’ message.
Despite Prevost’s protest against the Trump administration’s policies, Trump and Vance celebrated the election of the first American pope.
“Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election!” Vance wrote on X.
“I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope.
“What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV.
“It will be a very meaningful moment!”
