MM#480--What the Media Got Wrong about The First American Pope

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

Three Media Narratives To Test

Why He Is Not Francis 2.0

Peru And The Liberation Theology Myth

The Conclave Was Not Anti Trump

The Real Profile And Next Steps

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Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. This is a video and audio podcast. The first American Pope, that headline, broke the internet on May 8th, 2025. And within hours, the media, it had its narrative. They had their story, they had their box they were going to put him in. The problem is they got it all wrong. Well, almost all of it. They got most of it wrong. In fact, I read, just read Paul Kengore's incredible book, American Pontiff, which was recently released last month. So you don't have to spend two weeks going through all 400 pages. And what did I find? The real Robert Francis Prevost looks nothing like the guy the media invented. Welcome back to the Mojo Academy, where we take the books, go behind the headlines, and we break them down so you walk away knowing more than the pundits do. So today we have three nuggets, three lies, and the truth the media simply got wrong. Nugget number one, they said Pope Leo was simply Pope Francis 2.0. Nugget number two, that his time in Peru made him a leftist. And nugget number three, the conclave was a chess move against the US president, Donald Trump. So three nuggets, let's roll. So the media told us he's the new Pope Francis. That's what they said within twenty four hours of his election. CNN said it, MSNBC said it, and half of the Catholic commentators on X said it. Did any of them read a biography? There was none. Did any of them do any research? Did any of them do any more than AI research on this American? Paul Kangor is one of the top Catholic historians in America. He has spent years in many archives. He's done numerous interviews, tons of records, primary sources. He digs deep. So in this book, here is what he found on Pope Leo, Robert Prevost. Prevost theology isn't Franciscan or even Jesuit. It's not progressive. It's not even close to what the media described. Prevost is Augustinian, as in Saint Augustine of Hippo three fifty four AD, City of God Confessions, one of the most rigorous theological frameworks in church history. Now Augustine is not a comfortable theologian. He doesn't bend to cultural pressure, and he doesn't soft pedal human nature. Augustine said without grace we default to sin, that civilization requires order, that truth is not up for a vote. That's the intellectual framework that Pope Leo XIV was formed in. Now, the media they want you to believe he's going to deconstruct the church from the inside. Kind of like Pope Francis. More synods, more talking, trying to change doctrine. But Kangor's research says something completely different. Pravos built his entire intellectual life on Augustine. That means he believes in the reality of sin, the necessity of redemption, the church as a permanent institution, not just a political party that adjusts to polls. So Pope Francis 2.0, the evidence says no, not close. Let's move to our second nugget of wisdom. He spent decades, in fact, in Peru, and some of the poorest communities on the continent. And the media saw that and said, Oh, leftist liberation theology, classic social justice play. But here's the problem with that. That that problem, that take has a big problem. Because it's exactly backwards from what the research says. Liberation theology was a dominant movement in Latin America starting in the 1960s and 70s. And the basic idea is it's a mix of Catholic social teaching with market Marxist economic analysis. And it uses the church as an engine for political revolution. Now Rome, they had serious concerns. There were Vatican investigations. It was a real controversy for a while. And it was everywhere in the regions where Prevos was working. So the media's logic is this, very superficial, but it makes sense for the for the media. He's in Peru. Peru has liberation theology, therefore he's a liberation theology guy. Except that's not what Kengore found. Kengore documents that Prevost didn't embrace liberation theology. He actually pushed back against it. He was he was working in the communities where Marxist ideology was being preached from the pulpit, but he held the line. He focused on, you know, the traditional stuff, the sacramental life, the Catholic, traditional Catholic formation, genuine pastoral care, not political organizing. The same mission work that could have radicalized him actually revealed exactly where he stood. So his Peru years didn't make him a leftist, they actually tested him, and he passed. The media looked at the zip code and drew a conclusion, and Kengore looked at the record and found something different. Now, don't let anyone tell you where a man stands based on only where he served. Now, real quick, if this is the kind of books plus news breakdown that's useful to you, hit that subscribe button. We do this every week. We get books that go beyond the headlines. That's what we do here at the Mojo Academy. That's what we're building here. Now getting back to our video, here's the big one. The lie number three. The conclave was a political move against Donald Trump. That was the take. 133 cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel, and their primary motivation was American politics? Does that sound right to you? It's not even close. Here's some basic context that got completely lost in the noise. A hundred and thirty three cardinals voted in that conclave. They came from 70 countries. The Catholic Church operates in some 200 plus countries and territories around the world. The media's argument is that the primary driver of the decision was reaction to a sitting U.S. president. That's that's extraordinarily American-centric take. Kind of arrogant. 2,000-year-old institution, global institution, is going to be primarily concerned about America. Sorry, media, you got it wrong. Prevost was elected on the fourth ballot, which was amazingly fast. And King Gore documents this, that the very quickly a large majority of Cardinals gathered around Prevost as the consensus candidate. The conservatives knew they weren't going to get their best candidate elected, but they knew that they could stop the very far left candidate from getting elected as well. And thus you have a consensus. And then we have white smoke very quickly. King Gord traces Prevost rise through church leadership, and it didn't happen overnight. He became the prior general of the Augustinian order. That's a global leader of an entire order. And then Pope Francis appointed him to lead the Dicastria Bishops, one of the most powerful offices in the Vatican. That office oversees bishop appointments worldwide. So his rise wasn't manufactured for the moment. It was forty years in the making, since his early twenties, and it just accelerated in the last three years. So you could say perhaps the Holy Spirit? Perhaps. Listen, the Cardinals didn't pick Bravos to score political points against Washington, D.C. and an American president. They picked him because he was already running one of the most consequential offices in the church, and he had been doing it with distinction. The chess move narrative assumes the Cardinals think like cable news anchors. Let's be real. They don't. Cardinals, Catholic cardinals, they think in decades and in centuries. The man they elected had served the global church for four decades, uh, in the mission fields, in the religious leadership, in the highest levels of the Vatican administration most recently. That's not a chess move. That's a that's a resume. And you could just say the Holy Spirit was thrown in there. So look, the media isn't going to read 400 pages to get the story right. That's not how the news cycle works. But you watch this, you're here, and you got a better briefing than most legacy news anchors in the drive-by media ever got. And now you know something the headlines won't tell you. Pope Leo XIV is not who they say he is. He's a theologian formed by Augustine, he's a missionary who held the line in Peru, and a church leader with four decades of work behind him. So go read Kengore's great biography, American Pontiff. It's balanced, and I believe it's the closest book to get us to the truth about this new American pontiff. As always, keep fighting the good fight. A little PS here. Some might misinterpret this video to think that I believe Pope Leo will be a conservative leaning Pope in the realm of a Benedict XVI or even back to a Pius XII or Pius XII. I don't think he will be. But on the other hand, I also firmly believe based on this book and Ken Gore's research, he is not a Francis 2.0. So you read Ken Gore's book and let me know. I'm curious of your thoughts. As always, drop those in the comments below. Now, if you liked this video and you love Fulton Sheen, check out this video here where I break down my favorite three books of his Fulton Sheen's that helped my spiritual life. Remember, Fulton Sheen is going to get declared blessed later this year, and that is wonderful, wonderful news.

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