It didn’t take long after Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, emerged onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday as the new leader of the Catholic Church for social media commentators on the right to begin decrying him as “Francis 2.0.”

This snap judgment was based largely on his social media history of reposting criticisms of President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on immigration policy, as well as a few reposts of left-wing claptrap on climate change and race relations. 

So does this mean the 69-year-old Chicago-born Pope Leo is going to be the next Pope Francis? The short answer is: probably not.

Setting aside the obvious fact that Pope Leo is far more conservative on issues like abortion and gay marriage than most MAGA influencers, I hazard this guess not because I’ve discovered a trove of old X posts where he praises Trump, owns the libs, and defends the Second Amendment. I say it because in his very first decisions as Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo appears to be far more traditional and liturgically orthodox than his predecessor. In particular, he seems to have a special devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass.