Pope Leo XIV, in the 100 days since he began his papacy, has brought a “calming” presence to the Vatican, Saint John’s University theology professor Tom Williams and John Yep, the CEO and president of Catholics for Catholics, told Newsmax Saturday.
“Pope Leo has not been anxious to issue a flurry of executive orders, change things up and shake things up,” Williams told Newsmax’s “America Right Now.” “He’s actually been very peaceful and quiet and slow and deliberate, which a lot of us as Catholics and as Pope watchers have found calming.”
He contrasted this with the “12 years of Pope Francis,” which he described as “difficult” and marked by “a lot of chaos,” adding that Pope Leo is “trying to bring people together” and proceeding “step by step, very deliberately.”
Yep echoed that sentiment, calling the dominant impression “calm.”
“The No. 1 adjective that comes up if you Google ‘100 days since Pope Leo’ is ‘calm,'” he said. “It’s precisely what Tom Williams has said … but calm does not mean passive because he has engaged very much.”
He noted the Pope’s outreach to 1 million young people in August and a planned live Q&A session with American youth in November, calling his style “John Paul-esque.”
Williams said the American church has “collectively breathed a sigh of relief” with the new pontiff.
“We have a Pope who not only is not hostile to the American church, but someone who really understands us,” Williams said. “He’s one of us. He really gets it.”
Yep added that hearing the Pope in English “is still something that hits home” and cited his “57% approval rating among Americans — the highest among world leaders.”
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