Swedish cardinal hails Pope Leo, takes dig at Trump

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV concelebrates Mass with the College of Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican the day after his election as 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Friday, May 9, 2025. — Photo by Associated Press

Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius, who took part in the conclave to elect the Catholic Church’s new pope, hailed Leo XIV on Friday as “gentle and humble” — and very “unlike” United States President Donald Trump.

“Many people reacted to the fact that we have an American pope for the first time,” Arborelius wrote in a statement the day after Leo XIV’s election.

He described Pope Leo, whose real name is Robert Prevost, as a “gentle and humble person” who was “conscientious and insightful” in his work heading the Dicastery for Bishops, a key Vatican department that advises the pontiff on appointments.

“It is difficult to imagine someone whose character is more unlike his than another American who has joked around dressed up as pope,” Arborelius said, referring to an AI-generated image Trump posted of himself as the pope on White House social media accounts.

READ: Before papacy, Leo wasn’t shy about chiding Trump, Vance

“Nevertheless, I can see how Pope Leo, with his gentle demeanor, may succeed in getting the powerful people of the world to hear the gospel’s message of peace and reconciliation,” he said.

Appointed in 2017 as Sweden’s first cardinal, Arborelius is a convert to Catholicism in the overwhelmingly Protestant Scandinavian country, home to one of the world’s most secularized societies.

The 75-year-old had been seen as a potential successor to Pope Francis, though he told Swedish broadcaster SVT in April that Pope Francis had granted his request to be released from his duties as cardinal because he wanted to return to live in his monastery in southern Sweden.

But Francis passed away before a date had been set for the end of his tenure, he said, “So now I’m left hanging a little.”/das