Cardinal Müller: The election of Pope Leo XIV is a fortunate coincidence and providential

Leo XIV unites North and South America. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller is convinced that he can bring the two continents closer together. And he will also be able to reach an understanding with US President Trump.

The German Curial Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller considers the election of Pope Leo XIV a fortunate coincidence given his biography. "It is, so to speak, providential that he unites the two Americas in his person and with his background," Müller told the Catholic weekly newspaper "Die Tagespost" (Thursday). Robert Francis Prevost, the Pope's real name, was born in Chicago and served as a bishop in Peru for several years.

The new Pontiff could provide an impetus to bring North and South America closer together again, Müller continued. "One would then have to draw conclusions for practical life from this – including in ecclesiastical terms." It would be desirable, for example, for both continents to grow closer together and cooperate more ecclesiastically. "Added to this is an understanding of what the state actually is and how parties should behave politically and economically for the good of the state." Thus, a false political "messianism" of Marxist character has "brought only disaster" to South America.

Trump wants to do good

Müller assumes that Pope Leo will also reach an understanding with US President Donald Trump. "You have to distinguish the real man from what the media and Western politicians say about him." Although Trump comes from a business background, he said he is a man who wants to do good. "I don't think he will be closed to arguments from the Church." In any case, Vatican diplomacy is not a political counterpoint to an American government, but rather "the moral conscience of all earthly rulers."

According to Müller, Latin Americans can expect Pope Leo to place new ways of proclaiming the Gospel at the center of his teaching and pastoral work. The Church must, for example, address transhumanism, which sees humans only as a precursor to a biological-technological hybrid and is based on a false image of humanity. "Overall, a Pope like Leo XIV will be a role model and a beacon of hope for Latin America."

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