Don't expect Pope Leo XIV to file comments in EPA dockets, but he could build upon the late Pope Francis' unprecedented Vatican focus on climate change.
Why it matters: The pope has a massive bully pulpit as leader of a church with 1.4 billion members worldwide, and reaches people well beyond that.
Pope Leo XIV — the first U.S.-born pontiff, who is of Spanish and Creole descent and served in Latin America — is uniquely positioned to help ease deep divisions between the country's white and Latino Catholics.
Why it matters: The new pope has been an outspoken defender of migrant rights, and his family's immigration story touches an issue that has split many U.S. Catholics along cultural and political lines.
