Writing in the Telegraph on the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new Pope Leo XIV, Tim Stanley had cause to believe that the Vatican would become great again. He declared: ‘At the moment when church attendance is rising and the young are exploring Christianity, the Vatican seems to have aligned itself with history – in time, God willing, for a renewal of faith and tradition.’

Alas, some eighteen months later, those hopes seem dashed. At a time when the young people Stanley referred to are searching for the truth, indeed, searching for Christ (last year, for the first time since the Reformation, young Catholics outnumbered Protestants in England), the Vicar of Christ on Earth seems to prefer confusion rather than a renewal of faith and tradition.

How is it that Pope Leo XIV can become emotional at singing, in Gregorian Chant, the Salve Regina, as he did on his September visit to France, call out in ferocious terms that country’s assisted dying law and its constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion, yet at the same time promote bishops such as Michael Saporito, who have links to the disgraced paedophile, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and who openly associate with the LGBT lobby, holding ‘Pride Masses’ and ‘Rainbow Rosaries’?

As Damian Thompson opined recently, the matter is complicated and unsatisfactory, if not entirely depressing. Leo XIV cannot succeed in his stated aim of bringing peace to the Church if he continues to sprout the jargon about Synodality, which, as the late Cardinal George Pell pointed out so clearly, is nothing but Marxist jargon, so loved by Pope Francis.

It was seen at the recent ecumenical gathering at Assisi. Despite the persecution of Christians continuing with alacrity in Africa and the Middle East, and with Catholic churches being attacked in France and Italy in the violence that has swept the continent, Papa Prevost, in the presence of the leaders of other religions who engage in this persecution, could not bring himself to condemn the hatred that is at its core. In fact, he could not even mention Jesus Christ at all, merely suggesting that ‘peace should be our guiding star’. This is the behaviour of an apostate.

The disastrous Francis-era agreement with the Chinese Communist party continues, with Leo recently agreeing to the appointment of the sixth bishop pursuant to this agreement, during his papacy. Cardinal Joseph Zen, emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, has repeatedly criticised the deal strongly. He described the agreement as an ‘incredible betrayal’ of China’s Catholics, a view espoused by the late Cardinal Pell, who added in the famous Demos document, published just after his death, that the Vatican’s prestige is at a low ebb.

It is arguably even lower now since the Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo XIV voted in the US midterm elections this week by sending an absentee ballot by mail, the first known pontiff in the Church’s 2000-year history to vote in a secular election. Writing for Lifesite News, Gaetano Masciullo, a renowned Italian Catholic author and historian, explained that the practice of popes abstaining from voting in elections in their country of origin is justified on doctrinal and political grounds.

With regard to the former, he expounded that ‘once elevated to the Throne of Saint Peter, a pope ceases to be primarily a citizen of any state. He is the Common Father (Pater Communis) of all Catholic faithful and the sovereign ruler of the independent Holy See. While an individual pontiff may technically retain the civil status of his birthplace under municipal law, his supernatural mission transcends every temporal allegiance.’

With regard to the latter, there is the danger that casting a ballot in a secular contest will be inevitably weaponised by political parties claiming the Pope’s tacit endorsement. Given his past clashes with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and his private meeting at the Vatican with Democratic party strategist David Axelrod, voting in this election may be interpreted as a partisan act.

Moreover, given the pope is the head of a foreign sovereign state, participating in the domestic elections of another sovereign nation arguably represents, in Masciullo’s words, ‘an imprudent cross-border interference’ from a diplomatic point of view, especially since the Holy See must maintain its neutrality in order to be able to negotiate freely with governments.

The renewal of faith and tradition, especially among the young, is seen in increasing attendance at the Traditional Latin Mass, despite the Vatican’s best efforts to deny access to it. Despite calls from many within the Church to end the crackdown, with several senior prelates describing its restriction as not realistic, Papa Prevost seems impervious to the need to allow its wider use to achieve his aim of bringing peace to the Church. Dismissing it as a ‘personal preference’, and banning Latin Mass pilgrims from entering St Peter’s Basilica, as happened last month, despite seeking Leo’s permission months in advance, ignores the reality as described by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone that, ‘This is unstoppable. It’s what’s drawing young people in and will continue to do so’ because of the sense of the sacred that the traditional liturgy offers.

All the while, Pope Leo XIV pays homage to ‘sustainability’, with an award established in his name presented for the first time to Cardinal Michael Czerny in the Vatican in October. Cardinal Czerny is a fully paid-up member of the climate change cult, with his advocacy for net zero and more electric cars.

In his Demos memo, Cardinal Pell exhorted that the pope who succeeds Francis ‘must understand that the secret of Christian and Catholic vitality comes from fidelity to the teachings of Christ and Catholic practices. It does not come from adapting to the world or from money.’

At this time of increasing apostasy from Church leaders, the words of probably the greatest American Catholic of the 20th century, the recently beatified Archbishop Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, seem prophetic:

‘Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes and ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like religious, and your religious act like religious.’