[Editor’s Note: These are the fifth 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.]

Allen: I want to follow up on that later, on the topic of artificial intelligence and the crisis you are describing, but in terms of the polarization and division you were speaking about, it’s no secret that that had a significant impact on Pope Francis’s papacy, the criticism he faced and how he was seen. Is this something you are worried about as you step into the same role?

Pope Leo: Going back to what I see my role as being, I don’t feel the need to complicate my role because my role is announcing the Good News, preaching the Gospel. I think the Gospel addresses some of these questions from a basis which comes out of a sense of being sons and daughters of God, who is Creator, of God who sent His Son, who incarnated among us and who taught us the value of human life, keeping an eye on eternal life. If we lose the horizon, you lose your compass, you may be wandering in vain and not knowing where to go.