Counterweight: A New Pope Heralds A Blessed Contrast

Jeff Robbins on May 13, 2025

The decline in religiosity in America is oft-noted and well-documented, as survey upon survey demonstrates. Gallup reports that while 44% of Americans said in 2000 they attended services weekly, by 2023 that figure had dropped to 32%. The percentage of Americans who identified with a particular religion likewise fell during that period.

But that's a far cry from saying that identification with religious teachings has disappeared from American life. A combined 71% of Americans tell Gallup that religion is either "very" or "fairly" important in their lives. That a third of Americans attend services every week is a meaningful indication that many seek and receive regular reminders of the virtue of The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Polling can't neatly capture the extent to which Americans tell themselves, or tell their children, that traditional Judeo-Christian values like honesty, charity and decency matter.

Remarkably, given what we've got, 94% of Americans told the Pew Research Center last year that it was "very" or "somewhat" important to have a president who lives a moral, ethical life. This, of course, is a head-scratcher of the first order, because the president whom Americans have twice elected is pretty much the epitome of everything that most Americans would claim to detest. His dishonesty is clinical, his narcissism jaw-dropping, and the cruelty, one should have thought, would have repulsed Americans across the board rather than thrilled so many of them. Historians will fill libraries with their analyses of what happened during this period, when so many of our countrymen lost their moral compass or perhaps proved that they never had one.

Last week's announcement that a pious American who cared for the poor had been chosen as the new pope provided a shot of welcome optimism. The elevation of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to Pope Leo XIV showed some promise that the rise to international prominence of a good, decent American would showcase a vastly different American face, one of which Americans can be proud rather than ashamed.

Born in a working-class community in America's heartland, Pope Leo is the first Augustinian pope. The three core values of the Order of St. Augustine are "truth, unity and love." Donald Trump's three core values are dishonesty, self-worship and cryptocurrency, and it's to be hoped that a healthy slice of Americans who do not presently perceive the difference will see the proverbial light.

Father Bob, as the new pope was once known, once told the Vatican News how he saw a priest's purpose. It was, he said, "authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them, to suffer with them and to look for ways that he can better live the Gospel message in the midst of his people." It seems fair to say that Trump does not know the Gospel from Mother Goose. If anyone was confused about the difference between him and Pope Leo, the president kindly eliminated any confusion by making a deal with the repressive, jihadist emir of Qatar to obtain the gift of a $400 million luxury jet to serve first as our new Air Force One and thence to be transferred to the Trump presidential library for his use. This would be notable as the mother of all conflicts of interest had he not already recorded so many other similar acts of venality in the books, with so many more yet to come.

"In an era that looked as if it might be defined by an American man of depraved cruelty, corruption, and shame," former Rep. Liz Cheney posted, "what a magnificent thing the Catholic Church has done. The elevation of an American man of goodness, grace, humility, mercy, and faith to the Throne of St. Peter is moving and momentous for us all."

It may be that Pope Leo will prove a much-needed counterweight. In hearing his words, Americans may be reminded of what we are supposed to be.

The last 10 years have been a sobering illustration of how much restorative work there is to do in our precious country. The new pope's arrival in America's national consciousness may generate just the jolt of self-awareness that the nation needs.

Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Play. Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was chief counsel for the minority of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. An attorney specializing in the First Amendment, he is a longtime columnist for the Boston Herald, writing on politics, national security, human rights and the Mideast.