Newsmax Rome correspondent Alex Salvi told "Finnerty" on Thursday night that Pope Leo XIV could be a unifier of the Catholic Church given that he has progressive and traditional leanings.
Salvi told guest host Ed Henry that several names emerged as contenders to replace Pope Francis, who died April 21. But it wasn’t until recently that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, who took the name Pope Leo XIV following his election Thursday, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, emerged as the strongest contenders because they were viewed as unifiers.
"Both of those men in many ways share some similarities," Salvi said. "They're both relatively young. Pizzaballa, 60 years old. Prevost, 69 years old. They both are very relatively silent, I'll say, when it comes to some of the more controversial issues that took place within the Catholic Church. So, because of that, neither one of them had a reputation one way or the other, too far left, too far right or anything like that. And that may have been the difference-maker when it became Prevost surfacing as the new leader of the Catholic Church.
"The 69-year-old Chicago native spending the past 10 years in Peru and was elevated by Francis to cardinal and some of the most powerful positions within the church and closely aligns with them on many issues such as immigration and the environment. But there have also been moments where he showed more traditionalist leanings, oftentimes walking the line on LGBTQ issues, and in 2012 even arguing against the inclusion of gender theory in Peru's school curriculum. And it may be for that reason that at least 89 cardinals threw their support behind him, possibly seeing him as a unifier tasked with addressing the church's most significant problems: skyrocketing debt, dwindling numbers [of congregants] and divisions within the church."
Salvi added the new Pope’s surprise ascension to the papacy was just as unpredictable as the conclave that got him there, "but how he will operate and how the church will run with him now leading it is still anyone's guess."
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