HUGH HEWITT: Will Pope Leo XIV reverse the anti-American vibe from the last pope?

Pope Leo XIV is both the first American pope and the first boomer pope, and any projections about what his papacy will look like are premature right now.

Whatever the Catholic faithful in Africa think of Cubs-White Sox chatter, or what the new pope’s old Peruvian diocesan flock makes of the dissection in the American Catholic media of "Bishop Bob’s" choice of the name Leo and whatever "Rerum Novarum" is, it’s a good bet that most of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics are in a "wait and see" mode, relieved that it didn’t take long —perhaps a little side-eyed at the choice of an American but reassured by the obvious love for him from his Peruvian "family"— and that everyone with a red hat appears to be happy even as the tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square thundered their applause. But for the generation of boomers around his age of 69, the astonished reaction is at the very idea that one of our number is the heir to Saint Peter’s mission as the "rock" upon which Christ’s church would be built.