Frank Pavone
Appearances
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
Well, I'm astonished that they chose an American. What a surprise. And I have some connections to this cardinal. Our, you know, our associate director at Priests for Life is also an Augustinian, Father Dennis Wild. He's been with us since 1998. And he knew the new Pope when he was at Villanova and he started, Prevost started Villanovans for Life. Right.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
And we know, you know, there's a lot to be unpacked here. But, you know, the name Leo, that's important as well. And I'm sure a lot of comment is going to be about, you know, what is he trying to convey by Leo, Leo XIV. Leo XIII was known, of course, for his emphasis on Catholic social teaching and enabling the church to speak to the modern age when it came to the social doctrine of the church.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
So hopefully there we're going to see a better handling of this than we saw under Francis and a little bit more doctrine put in along with just the idea of embracing and accompanying people. But that remains to be seen. But I'm confident that we've done now what I thought we were going to do, what I thought the Cardinals were going to do, was to make some kind of a course correction for
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
I don't think this is going to be Francis II, but a lot remains to be seen because, Charlie, the office shapes the man also, you know, and I think we're going to see that happen too.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
We will see a few things start to happen. One of the most important things, just like we see in the civic arena, is what kind of appointments he will start making. Now it's interesting, they chose a man here who was in charge of the congregation for bishops.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
So over recent years, he has been responsible for the selection of bishops, which of course is a primary responsibility of the Pope, to assign bishops to dioceses. So we're going to see very soon, not only in terms of whom he appoints as bishops, but whom he appoints
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
in the various offices of the Vatican because he has the prerogative to, you know, bring in his own people or to let those who are in place now stay in place. I would look at that as much as the speeches he will give. He will be giving speeches now regularly. Hopefully he'll be of the style where we hear a lot from him, you know, popes that... will preach every day and send out lots of messages.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
I think that's good. I hope he takes the social media right away for the sake of transparency. But yes, we will see over the next few weeks, we'll be able to assess, I think, pretty quickly the direction in which his thinking is going to go.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
That's what that's the most surprising element of this to me. And I think that we can, first of all, say one of my concerns, you know, our concerns with Pope Francis was I didn't seem to understand or appreciate what was going on here in America, our American politics, certainly. And, you know, not to say that this is necessarily going to be a you know, pro-Trump Pope.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
But I have the hope that, you know, at least coming from a more of a familiarity with America, he will be able to work better with the Trump administration than Pope Francis did. Now, having said that, again, we'll have to just see the specifics as they unfold. The other thought is very interesting, like what you said about John Paul going back to Poland.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
Certainly he's going to make trips to America. And I think this can really engage the attention of the American public to, you know, what is a pope anyway, you know, and get a renewed interest in what is going on with the Catholic Church.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
Um, but I'm even more excited about the, uh, the, uh, in the opposite direction or how the understanding of America and our constitution and our system of government will affect the way he, uh, leads the whole church and the way he works with the current administration.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
You know, one of the keys to the thinking of a bishop or a cardinal is his coat of arms. They have a particular choice of a motto that they put on their coat of arms. And for Cardinal Prevost, it is, in the one Christ, we are one. And I like that very much because obviously, you know, and he started out his remarks today by doing what? By talking about the risen Christ.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
You know, he didn't start by talking about himself. And this is really what a pope is supposed to do. And in the one Christ, we are one. We're going to have to unpack that in the coming weeks and months. and see how that's a key to his thinking. But it could point to a good effort to heal the divisions that have happened in the church, certainly the divisions among the wider body of Christ.
The Charlie Kirk Show
BREAKING: The First American Pope
And of course, what always has to be front and center, pointing to the one Lord and head of the church who is Jesus Christ.