Pope Leo XIV: The First American Pope & Catholic Social Teaching in the Age of AI

In this episode, Andrew Petiprin and Robert Mixa dive into the remarkable election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope — a native of the South Side of Chicago and a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan. But this papacy is more than historic; it’s deeply symbolic and theologically rich.

They explore:

• Why the name “Leo” matters: a conscious link to Pope Leo XIII, architect of modern Catholic Social Teaching through Rerum Novarum.

• What Leo XIV’s roots in Chicago and his Augustinian spirituality reveal about his vision for the Church.

• How his first address to the cardinals cites Benedict XVI’s Spe Salvi.

• The urgent new challenges posed by artificial intelligence to human dignity, labor, and community — and what Leo XIV might teach the world about navigating them faithfully.

   

This is a wide-ranging conversation about Leo XIV, the South Side of Chicago, Catholic social teaching, and what it means for the Church to lead with both pastoral realism and eschatological hope in the 21st century.