While it only took him two weeks to publish a book on Pope Leo XIV, Dr. Matthew Bunson humourously refuted the notion that he had biographical sketches of all 133 cardinal electors all set and ready to go by the time the senior clerical leaders entered the Sistine Chapel on May 7.

The elevation of Robert Prevost, in 2023, from bishop to the cardinalate within eight years had caught the veteran journalist and Vatican observer’s attention, as did Pope Francis’ decision this past February to promote him to cardinal-bishop and the titular head of the Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano.

“Essentially what it did was raise his profile and gave him some additional seniority within the (College of Cardinals),” said Bunson. “It was very clear that Pope Francis thought very highly of him.”

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Bunson emphasized that his new book, Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope, is not an authoritiative exposé of the new Pope but an introductory look at the spiritual and intellectual influences on the 266th successor of St. Peter and a preliminary assessment of where he may lead the Church.

Echoing his efforts following the 2005 and 2013 papal conclaves, the vice president and editorial director of EWTN News released a manuscript about the new Bishop of Rome just two weeks after the declaration of “Habemus Papam” saw the American elevated to the papacy.

Synodality, ecological justice and care for displaced persons are among the plethora of matters where Leo is anticipated to provide continuity with the late Francis and Bunson delves into the parallels within Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope’s 160 pages. The longtime writer also notes how this pontificate might chart its own course.

Bunson, like others steeped in knowledge of Holy See tradition, noticed how Leo XIV re-embraced the traditional symbols of the papacy such as the ornate red and gold stole and the red pellegrina (shoulder cape) when he introduced himself to the world with his Urbi et Orbi blessing.

Within the first month of the American’s papacy, Bunson has detected his divergent approach to sermons.

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“Pope Francis tended to focus certainly on the Second Vatican Council and many of his own writings,” said Bunson. “But Leo, from the start, has looked at trying to integrate Pope Francis into his new pontificate very faithfully. He quotes Evangelii Gaudium frequently, for example. He's also incorporating elements of Benedict XVI, John Paul II and Paul VI, and in particular the documents of the Vatican, Second Vatican Council as well as the Church Fathers.

“We're seeing him draw from this rich patrimony, this magnificent treasure of Church teachings and writings, in particular of his predecessors,” said Bunson. “He's honouring Pope Francis, but he's also recognizing himself as a successor to 266 other popes.”

Comments made by the new pontiff during his May 16 audience with the diplomatic corps could also portend “subtle policy shifts,” said Bunson. The author particularly took note of Leo XIV’s statement that “indeed, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding.”

Bunson said the Pope and his diplomats adopting such an outlook could particularly appeal to persecuted Catholics and Christians around the world,

“I appreciated very much his comments to the Regina Caeli (on May 25) when he went there and talked about the crisis facing Christians and religious believers in China,” said Bunson. “I think that openness to being more blunt hopefully will provide some additional strength and encouragement to the Christians, particularly Catholic Christians in China.”

He likened this potential shift as reminiscent of the contrasting approach Pope John Paul II took against the Soviet Union compared to Pope Paul VI.

“He inherited an approach to the communist system of trying to find those compromises,” explained Bunson. “John Paul II embraced a little more forthright blunt approach to those questions. We may be seeing, it's too early to predict exactly how this will play out, but I think we may be seeing a subtle shift in that policy as well in the same way that we saw that shift away from the approach from Pope Benedict to Pope Francis and now to Pope Leo.”

Bridge-building will be at the heart of Pope Leo’s pontifical mission, said Bunson.

“I think he wants to be a builder of bridges among cultures, certainly from the Latin American world to Rome, from the North American ethos to Rome, but also building those bridges in the Church,” said Bunson. “At times it has seemed certain that there are divisions in the Church, and I think Pope Leo has very clearly staked out for himself the task of bringing everyone together.”

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Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope also details the Pope’s American Catholic upbringing in Chicago, his Augustinian intellectual and spiritual roots, his missionary contributions in Peru and an ascendency through the hierarchy that Bunson describes as “meteoric.”

Learn more about the book by visiting sophiainstitute.com.