Pope Leo XIV has “great love” for the U.S. and what it stands for but just “happens to be American,” the Chicago-born pope said in an interview with NBC.
Leo, the first pope from the U.S., spoke Wednesday night to the U.S. broadcaster on the sidelines of a prayer event with music at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence.
“I think of myself more as the pope who happens to be American. Not to belittle what it means to be an American,” said the pope, when asked how important it was to him being American.
“I have great love for America but I understand my mission as having a very important dimension, which is precisely being pastor of a universal church and having a voice and an opportunity to speak to people throughout the world,” added Leo, who spent nearly two decades as a missionary in Peru.
Asked what the 70-year-old head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics loved about America, he responded, “so many things.”
“In a sense, speaking about principles, what America stands for, the sense of freedom, the sense of opportunity, the sense of having invited, for generations, people from around the world to be part of America,” said Leo, adding that his grandparents were immigrants.
On his mother’s side, Leo added, “we have people who were both slaves and slave owners.”
Leo, like his predecessor Francis, has repeatedly spoken up for migrants during his nascent papacy, calling the Trump administration’s clampdown on immigrants in the U.S. “inhuman.”
A rift earlier this year between U.S. President Donald Trump and the pope sparked global headlines and risked alienating Catholic U.S. voters.
On July 4, Independence Day in the U.S., he visited Italy’s island of Lampedusa — a major entry point to Europe for those crossing the dangerous Mediterranean from Africa — urging tolerance and protection for the vulnerable migrants, many of whom die during the journey.
Leo said that no trip had yet been planned for the U.S., but he hoped to visit “soon.”
The event in the gardens of Castel Gandolfo, over which Leo presided, was part of celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, accompanied by young singers from around the world, sang various works, including “Amazing Grace” in English and the hymn set to music, “Panis Angelicus.”
