The Pope Tackle’s One of His Toughest Political Challenges

Leo’s upcoming trip to South America is an early test of how he will handle the rise of right-wing populists.

Less than a month after losing part of a lung, Pope Leo XIV set out this morning on one of the longest and most ambitious trips of his pontificate. Over the course of 11 days and 12 flights, Leo will travel from South America’s Southern Cone to the high Andes and the Amazon Rainforest. Much of the Catholic world will be focused on how its 71-year-old leader, just a few weeks removed from cancer surgery, bears the physical challenge that the trip presents. But perhaps the most important challenge he will face is political.

Catholic social teaching does not line up with the ideological commitments of either the left or the right. Yet the global rise of right-wing populism has determined many of the political battles that Leo will confront as pope, particularly over the next week and a half. The center-left recently scored a victory in Brazil, but most countries in Latin America are governed by right-wing or center-right leaders, many of them populist. These include two stops on the pope’s itinerary: Argentina and his adopted home of Peru, where he served as a missionary and bishop for about two decades.

Leo’s trip is an early test of how he’ll address the Church’s disagreements with the right-wing populist leaders ascendant not only in Latin America but also in Europe, the historic heartland of the Catholic Church. The emphasis he puts on either conciliation or confrontation could indicate how he’ll handle a geopolitical challenge that will shape his pontificate.

Crime might be the issue that best explains the rise of the South American right. Latin America and the Caribbean together have the world’s highest homicide rate, nearly four times the global average. About half of the population of this region feels unsafe walking alone at night, compared with about a quarter of people globally, according to survey.