Editor’s Note: These are the first excerpts of a two-part interview between Pope Leo XIV and Crux Senior Correspondent Elise Ann Allen contained in her new biography of the pontiff, León XIV: ciudadano del mundo, misionero del siglo XXI, or “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century.” The book is published in Spanish by Penguin Peru and will be available for purchase in stores and online Sept. 18. English and Portuguese editions will be available in early 2026. 

ROME – In a lengthy and wide-ranging interview for a new biography of his life, Pope Leo XIV opens up his own background as history’s first U.S.-born pope and the first pope to hold Peruvian citizenship, jesting about who he would cheer for in a hypothetical World Cup, as well as his understanding of the papacy and current topics such as peace in Ukraine, his vision for synodality, and the polarization dividing so much of the world.

Speaking to Crux Senior Correspondent Elise Ann Allen in the second of two hour-and-a-half long interviews for her biography, Pope Leo said he would define Pope Francis’s process of synodality as “an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand. Speaking of the Church now, this means each and every member of the church has a voice and a role to play through prayer, reflection…through a process.”

“It’s an attitude which I think can teach a lot to the world today,” he said.

Referring to the problem of polarization, he said, “I think this is sort of an antidote. I think this is a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges that we have in the world today. If we listen to the Gospel, and if we reflect upon it together, and if we strive to walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today, there is a lot to be gained for us there.”

Paying homage to his extensive experience in Peru, he voiced hope that the process of synodality that began “long before the last synod, at least in Latin America – I spoke about my experience there. Some of the Latin American church has really contributed to the universal church – I think there’s great hope if we can continue to build on the experience of the past couple years and find ways of being church together.”

The following are the first excerpts of Pope Leo’s interview with Elise Ann Allen, which will be available in full with the publication of her biography of the pontiff on Sept. 18:

Allen: You are two things at once. You are the first Pope from the United States, but you’re also the second Pope with the perspective, if you will, of Latin America. Which of those do you identify with more?

Pope Leo: I think the answer is both/and. I’m obviously an American and I very much feel that I’m an American, but I also love Peru very much, the Peruvian people, that is a part of who I am. Half of my ministerial life was spent in Peru, so the Latin American perspective is very valuable to me. I think that comes out also in an appreciation that I have for the life of the Church from Latin America, which I believe was significant in both my connection with Pope Francis, my understanding of some of the vision that Pope Francis had for the Church, and how we can continue to carry that on in terms of a true prophetic vision for the church today and tomorrow.

Scenario: The United States is playing Peru in the World Cup. Who do you cheer for?

Good question. Probably Peru and just because of affective bonds. I’m also a big fan of Italy…People know I’m a White Sox fan, but as pope, I’m a fan of all the teams. Even at home, I grew up a White Sox fan, but my mother was a Cubs fan, so you couldn’t be one of those fans that shut out the other side. We learned, even in sports, to have an open, dialogical, friendly and not angry competitive stance on things like that, because we might not have gotten dinner had we been!

You’re in your first few months as pope now. How do you understand the role of the papacy?

There’s still a huge learning curve ahead of me. There’s a big part of it which I feel that I have been able to move into without a whole lot of difficulty, which is the pastoral part. Although I’m surprised at the response, how great it continues to be, the outreach to people of all ages…I appreciate everyone, whoever they are, what they come with, and I listen to them.

The totally new aspect to this job is being thrown onto the level of world leader. It’s very public, people know the phone conversations or meetings I’ve had with the heads of state of a number of different governments, countries around the world, in a time when the voice of the church has a significant role to play. I am learning a lot about how the Holy See has had a role in the diplomatic world for many years…Those things are all new to me in any sense of hands-on. I’ve followed current affairs for many, many years. I’ve always tried to stay up on the news, but the role of pope is certainly new to me. I’m learning a lot and feeling very challenged, but not overwhelmed. On that one I had to jump in on the deep end of the pool very quickly.

Being pope, successor to Peter, asked to confirm others in their faith, which is the most important part, is also something that can happen only by the grace of God, there’s no other explanation. The Holy Spirit is the only way to explain, how did I get elected to this office, to this ministry? Because of my faith, because of what I have lived, because my understanding of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I said yes, I’m here. I hope to be able to confirm others in their faith, because that is the most fundamental role that the Successor of Peter has.

Something you’ve been advocating for a lot is peace; peace in various conflicts, but Ukraine has been especially prominent. How realistic is it for the Vatican to be a mediator in that particular conflict at this moment?

I’d make a distinction in terms of the voice of the Holy See in advocating for peace and a role as mediator, which I think is very different and is not as realistic as the first one. I think that people have heard the different appeals I’ve made in terms of raising my voice, the voice of Christians, and the people of goodwill, saying that peace is the only answer. The useless killing after these years of people on both sides – in that particular conflict, but in other conflicts – I think people have to somehow be wakened up to say, there’s another way to do this.

To think of the Vatican as a mediator, even the couple of times that we have offered to host meetings of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, either in the Vatican or some other church property, I’m very well aware of what the implications of that are.

The Holy See, since the war began, has made great efforts to maintain a position that, as difficult as it might be, [is not] one side or the other, but truly neutral. Some things I’ve said have been interpreted in one way or the other, and that’s alright, but I think that the realistic part of it is not primary right now. I think a number of different actors have to push hard enough to make the parties that are at war say, enough is enough, and let’s look for another way to solve our differences.

We keep hoping. I believe strongly that we cannot give up hope, ever. I have high hopes in human nature. There is the negative side; there are bad actors, there are the temptations. On any side of any position, you can find motivations that are good and motivations that are not so good. And yet, to continue to encourage people to look at the higher values, the real values, that makes a difference. You can have hope, and you keep trying to push and say to people, let’s do this in a different way.

You spoke about peace and building bridges in your first speech on the balcony of St. Peter’s. What are the bridges that you want to build? Politically, socially, culturally, ecclesiastically, what are those bridges?

First of all, the way of building bridges is primarily through dialogue. One of the things that I’ve been able to do in these first couple of months is have at least some kind of dialogue, visits with world leaders from multinational organizations. In theory, the United Nations should be the place where many of these issues are dealt with. Unfortunately, it seems to be generally recognized that the United Nations, at least at this moment in time, has lost its ability to bring people together on multilateral issues. A lot of people are saying, ‘you’ve got to do bilateral dialogue’ to try and put things together, because there are obstacles in the way on different levels for the multilateral things to proceed.

We have to continue to remind ourselves of the potential that humanity has to overcome the violence and the hatred that is just dividing us more and more. We live in times when polarization seems to be one of the words of the day, but it’s not helping anybody. Or if it’s helping anyone, it’s very few when everyone else is suffering. So to continue to raise those questions, I think, is important.

That was actually my next question, polarization, because that’s a buzzword today, inside the church and outside. How do you think it can be solved?

It’s one thing certainly to raise the issue and talk about it. I think it’s very important to start a deeper reflection, of trying to figure out: why is the world so polarized? What’s going on? I think there are a lot of elements that have led to this. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I certainly see the reality in some of the results. The crisis of 2020 and the pandemic certainly had an effect on all of this, but I think it began further back…Perhaps in some places the loss of a higher sense of what human life is about would have something to do with that, which has affected people on many levels. The value of human life, of the family, and the value of society. If we lose the sense of those values, what matters anymore?

Add on top of that a couple of other factors, one which I think is very significant is the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive. For example, CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it’s 600 times more than what average workers are receiving. Yesterday the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble…

[On the topic of synodality], I think the concept of synodality is still something many people struggle to understand. How would you define it?

Synodality is an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand. Speaking of the Church now, this means each and every member of the church has a voice and a role to play through prayer, reflection… through a process. There are many ways that that could happen, but of dialogue and respect of one another. To bring people together and to understand that relationship, that interaction, that creating opportunities of encounter, is an important dimension of how we live our life as church.

Some people have felt threatened by that. Sometimes bishops or priests might feel, ‘synodality is going to take away my authority’. That’s not what synodality is about, and maybe your idea of what your authority is, is somewhat out of focus, mistaken. I think that synodality is a way of describing how we can come together and be a community and seek communion as a church, so that it’s a church whose primary focus is not on an institutional hierarchy, but rather on a sense of ‘we together’, ‘our church’. Each person with his or her own vocation, priests, or laity, or bishops, missionaries, families. Everyone with a specific vocation that they’ve been given has a role to play and something to contribute, and together we look for the way to grow and walk together as church.

It’s an attitude which I think can teach a lot to the world today. A little bit ago we were talking about polarization. I think this is sort of an antidote. I think this is a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges that we have in the world today. If we listen to the Gospel, and if we reflect upon it together, and if we strive to walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today, there is a lot to be gained for us there.

I do very much hope that the process that began long before the last synod, at least in Latin America – I spoke about my experience there. Some of the Latin American church has really contributed to the universal church – I think there’s great hope if we can continue to build on the experience of the past couple years and find ways of being church together. Not to try and transform the church into some kind of democratic government, which if we look at many countries around the world today, democracy is not necessarily a perfect solution to everything. But respecting, understanding the life of the Church for what it is and saying, ‘we have to do this together’. I think that offers a great opportunity to the Church and offers an opportunity for the Church to engage with the rest of the world. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, I think that’s been significant, and there’s a lot to be done yet.