SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It has been 100 days since white smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of a new pope. About an hour after the smoke came the name Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, born in Chicago. That historic development set high expectations, and to check in on where things stand, we've got NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose on the line. Hey, Jason.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So how would you characterize Pope Leo's first few months?
DEROSE: Well, I'd say he's moving at the speed of church, which is to say, not fast. Keep in mind, he did not campaign. There was no platform. And he didn't know he was going to be pope until the day he was elected. But in these hundred days, he's spoken publicly on war and peace, migrants, the environment, just like his predecessor Pope Francis did.
You know, the papal election was seen by many as a referendum on Francis, who was a pope of big gestures, which upset a lot of people, especially conservatives. That said, cardinals elected someone who many believe will continue Francis' agenda. Leo's style is less bold, I'd say, when it comes to that grand gesture. But many Catholics are hopeful he'll continue the substance, if not the style, of Francis.
DETROW: So a hundred-day marker is a completely arbitrary thing, and it's something we apply to faster-moving fields like American politics. But still, we've got a little bit of time here. What specific events, if any, have been the most memorable so far of Leo's papacy?
DEROSE: A couple come to mind. Pope Leo celebrated a new liturgy for Mass that emphasizes the environment. Now, that was in the works under Pope Francis, but it came out under Leo. Here's a bit of Leo speaking during that mass.
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POPE LEO XIV: (Non-English language spoken).
DEROSE: He's saying, "we must pray for the conversion of the many people inside and outside the church who still don't recognize the urgency of taking care of our common home." And not just the environment for the environment's sake, but because the poorest, most vulnerable are the most affected by climate change. It causes famine and war, leads to forced migration. And that Mass will now be used in dioceses around the world to draw people's attention to the issue.
And the other thing that comes to mind, Scott, is that in early August, Leo spoke to the Jubilee of Youth near Rome. He talked about the importance of solidarity between young people there and young people living through war in Gaza and Ukraine. And he talked about his vision for a world free from violence, a world of what he called fraternity and friendship, where people resolve conflicts with dialogue and not weapons.
DETROW: How has his background, how has his life experience, affected his work so far?
DEROSE: Well, you know, he's an Augustinian friar. And I've been spending time with a lot of Augustinians for some stories I'm reporting, and I'd say the importance of relationship and friendship are evident. In fact, I've talked with some brothers who say he might consider moving a group of Augustinian friars into the papal apartments with him in order to live in community - kind of the way the president of the United States moves his family into the White House.
DETROW: Interesting.
DEROSE: Now, think of that statement Leo made to the Youth Jubilee. He specifically mentioned fraternity and friendship as essential for peace. These are key Augustinian themes. The path to peace is walked alongside others. The path to knowledge is walked alongside others. In fact, it's through and in friendship that many Augustinians say they find God, or - maybe better put and more Augustinian - that God finds them.
In fact, there's a sermon that Augustine himself gave in which he says to the people he's preaching to, I don't want to be saved without you. That's really a sense of community and communal salvation, rather than what we think of today as that very individual, individualistic sense of being saved.
DETROW: Any sense of what is on the horizon for this new pope?
DEROSE: Well, as you said, 100 days is a very short period of time in what might be a 15- or 20-year papacy in a two-millennia-old religion. Now, that said, I'm watching for how Leo takes on technology. There was a lot of talk at the conclave about this idea of the digital continent - the idea that in the same way the church sends missionaries to geographic places to bring the gospel there, the church needs to send missionaries into the digital space to do ministry. Remember, Leo was himself a missionary in Peru. Here's Pope Leo talking to a group of digital creators he met with this summer.
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LEO XIV: It is not simply a matter of generating content but of creating an encounter of hearts. This will entail seeking out those who suffer, those who need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds.
DEROSE: And, Scott, I think we should look for an emphasis on how to regard artificial intelligence, a subcategory of technology. Again, Leo's Augustinian roots might come into play here - that emphasis on relationship and friendship. We have people regarding AI as an entity with which they have relationships. But is that possible or is that healthy with something that isn't human, isn't alive? There are some central theological questions about whether AI is being conflated with human reason and human consciousness, and both of those are things the Catholic Church is deeply concerned about.
DETROW: That is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Jason, thanks so much.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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