Pope Leo Defines Himself: A Man of Faith, a Listener, a Decider — and an American “I am capable of being decisive when it is necessary to be decisive.

On September 18, the first wide-ranging interview of Pope Leo IV was published in a book titled Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century. The book, which was published in Spanish, has been described as a “collaboration” with the pope, given that His Holiness was given the opportunity to review it and suggest any changes he deemed necessary. As such, it offers an especially revealing look at who the pope believes himself to be amidst the lingering questions in the secular and religious press on who this new pope truly is.

The New York Times’ interest in the book was to examine the Catholic response to it more than its actual content. That response being, in the Times’ estimation, that Catholics with a variety of political and ideological leanings are continuing to claim, even after the publication of this long-form interview, that the pope fits into their camp. “Liberal? Conservative? Cubs Fan? Catholics Project Many Images Onto Pope,” reads the headline.

I would submit, however, that more interesting is what the pope actually says in the book about himself to Elise Ann Allen, Crux’s senior correspondent in Rome and a fellow American.

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