{"id":8184,"date":"2026-04-25T00:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/two-new-books-reveal-secrets-alliances-behind-pope-leos-election\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T00:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:05:12","slug":"two-new-books-reveal-secrets-alliances-behind-pope-leos-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/two-new-books-reveal-secrets-alliances-behind-pope-leos-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Two new books reveal secrets, alliances behind Pope Leo&#8217;s election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_8Kw5rCv3lJP?client=wp&amp;client_version=2.7.1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(RNS) \u2014 Nearly a year after the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, two deeply sourced books offer competing portraits of the context and maneuvering behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2025\/05\/08\/robert-prevost-first-us-pope-leo-xiv-pope-francis-successor\/\">first U.S. pope\u2019s election<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.solferinolibri.it\/libri\/papi-dollari-e-guerre\/\">Popes, Dollars and Wars,<\/a>\u201d by renowned Italian journalist Massimo Franco, traces how the church in the United States, long treated in Rome as a periphery of the Catholic Church, became a force to be reckoned with in the centuries-old institution. Published on March 31, it is currently only available in Italian.<\/p>\n<p>Franco\u2019s book relies on research and never-before-seen documents scavenged from the bunker of the Vatican\u2019s own secret archives, now called the Pontifical Apostolic Archive, with the guidance of its former prefect, Bishop Sergio Pagano. The documents show how decades of U.S. money, millionaire donors and fundraising cardinals made a pope from the U.S. increasingly plausible.<\/p>\n<p>The second book, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/orbisbooks.com\/products\/the-election-of-pope-leo-xiv-the-last-suprise-of-pope-francis?srsltid=AfmBOopL3lqwq4wkGo0Z6dm994w0c8OeYm0GHUOkUMb8IqqQyWoey36p\">The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis<\/a>,\u201d by veteran Vatican reporters and power couple Elisabetta Piqu\u00e9 (of Argentina\u2019s La Naci\u00f3n newspaper) and Gerard O\u2019Connell (of the U.S.-based America magazine), delves into their accounts of the conclave. Published last month, it\u2019s a deep dive into the events preceding the pope\u2019s election, with exclusive interviews and insights with thought leaders and kingmakers in the conclave.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4256508\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 300px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4256508 \" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-239x369.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"463\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-239x369.jpg 239w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-415x640.jpg 415w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-768x1184.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-300x462.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2-600x925.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book2.jpg 973w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">\u201cThe Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis\u201d by Gerard O\u2019Connell and Elisabetta Piqu\u00e9. (Courtesy image)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Both books rely heavily on unnamed sources \u2014 unsurprising in a Vatican culture where discretion and curial favor often outweigh transparency.<\/p>\n<p>After Pope Francis\u2019 death on April 21, 2025, cardinals from around the world gathered in Rome for the general congregations, the closed-door meetings that set the stage for the conclave. As Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell wrote, conservative cardinals who opposed aspects of Francis\u2019 papacy made forceful speeches calling for doctrinal clarity and a return to tradition. At the same time, cardinals from across the globe were looking for a pastor close to ordinary Catholics in troubled times.<\/p>\n<p>But the most decisive conversations happened outside the Vatican over private dinners in cardinals\u2019 residences. Franco takes readers inside the Pontifical North American College (or NAC), the seminary on Rome\u2019s Janiculum Hill where future U.S. church leaders are trained and where eight of the 10 American cardinal electors stayed during the conclave.<\/p>\n<p>In the NAC\u2019s \u201cRed Room,\u201d named for its scarlet velvet chairs and portraits of influential cardinals on the walls, the cardinals met to discuss the future of the papacy. \u201cDuring conversations around the rectangular table of the Red Room dining hall,\u201d Franco wrote, \u201cthe differences among the leaders of the episcopacy were smoothed over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then-New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, close to Republican circles and a leading figure in The Papal Foundation, an American charity supporting papal initiatives around the world, played a central role, according to Franco. Founded by John Paul II, the foundation has raised an estimated $250 million and was especially relevant as cardinals discussed Vatican financial scandals and deficits ahead of the conclave.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is said that the traditionalists, including Dolan, were aiming for a solid conservative like the Archbishop of Budapest, P\u00e9ter Erd\u0151,\u201d who is considered close to former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, Franco wrote.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4256507\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 301px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4256507 \" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-242x369.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"301\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-242x369.jpg 242w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-420x640.jpg 420w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-768x1171.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-300x457.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1-600x915.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Conclave-Book1.jpg 984w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 301px) 100vw, 301px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">\u201cPapi, Dollari e Guerre\u201d by Massimo Franco. (Courtesy image)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Support for Erd\u0151 was strong among conservatives, especially in the United States. Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, spoke favorably of him, as did Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller, a frequent Mar-a-Lago visitor and vocal Francis critic often featured on EWTN.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. journalists Edward Pentin and Diane Montagna were accused of trying to sway cardinals by giving them a book titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/05\/06\/world\/cardinals-pope-conclave-dossier-candidates-intl\">The College of Cardinals\u2019 Report<\/a>,\u201d describing were cardinals stood on hot-button issues such as female ordination and the welcoming of LGBTQ Catholics.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump publicly backed Dolan for pope and later posted an AI-generated picture of himself dressed as pope. An unnamed source \u201cin contact with the cardinals\u201d told Piqu\u00e9 that \u201cTrump dressed as pope wasn\u2019t a joke\u201d but a message: \u201cI\u2019m watching you and I want a domesticated Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the U.S.-led conservative push had the opposite effect: quietly consolidating support for a dark-horse candidate, Cardinal Robert Prevost \u2014 the Chicago-born head of the Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Bishops.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During \u201csecret dinners\u201d co-hosted by British Ambassador to the Holy See Chris Trott and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, brought together 14 cardinals of the British Commonwealth. Some of them had worked with Prevost and liked his style, and were ready to put their weight behind him, Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe learn that some of Prevost\u2019s early supporters for the papacy came from the group of twenty-three cardinal electors who are part of the thirty-plus-member Dicastery for Bishops,\u201d a group, the authors added, that regularly met at the Vatican. Among them was Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, who had known Prevost for many years.<\/p>\n<p>At the residence of German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, referred to as \u201cCasa Marx\u201d (The Marx Home), cardinals met to \u201cdiscuss the qualities of the next pope and Prevost\u2019s candidacy,\u201d Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell wrote. \u201cThere are also some non-bishops \u2014 men and women \u2014 working in the Roman Curia who are actively seeking to convince the Latin American electors that Prevost is the best choice,\u201d the authors added, citing Emilce Cuda, the first female secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and Cardinal Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, archbishop of Lima, Peru.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron organized two meals around the time of Francis\u2019 funeral with Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the powerful Catholic movement the Community of Sant\u2019Egidio, which allegedly supported progressive French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline as the next pope, the authors wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Both books show that Italians hoping to reclaim the papacy failed to unite behind one candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin entered the conclave as the favorite, but his lack of pastoral experience made progressives wary, while conservatives mistrusted him for his role in drafting a controversial deal with China that gave Beijing power in the selection of bishops.<\/p>\n<p>In the days leading up to the conclave, Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell published reports suggesting that the secretary of state was at odds with Francis, which some said was the \u201cnail in the coffin\u201d for Parolin\u2019s chances of becoming pope.<\/p>\n<p>In their book, Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell bring readers inside the conclave, detailing mundane and extraordinary events within the secretive election, including the discovery of an active cellphone \u2014 which cardinals are banned from having during the conclave \u2014 in the pocket of an older cardinal.<\/p>\n<p>On the first vote, only three cardinals received between 20 and 30 votes: Erd\u0151, Prevost and Parolin. The strong support for Erd\u0151 \u201cshows (the conservatives) were well organized,\u201d O\u2019Connell wrote.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4201570\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4201570\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-Day1-Conclave2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Cardinal Pietro Parolin, center, greets Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo during a final Mass celebrated by cardinals inside St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The second vote showed a significant shift, with Erd\u0151 losing several votes. \u201cPrevost is the main beneficiary,\u201d O\u2019Connell wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Dolan later recounted that on the morning of the second day of voting, he shared some peanut butter and jelly with Prevost and got to know the Chicago-born cardinal better.<\/p>\n<p>Five of the more conservative U.S. cardinals were skeptical of Prevost, whom they viewed as a more moderate version of Francis. But those differences were smoothed out during the conclave, according to an unnamed cardinal cited in Franco\u2019s book.<\/p>\n<p>By the third vote, Parolin and Aveline were still in the running, but the papacy was only a few votes away for Prevost. \u201cIt was very clear that we were moving in a direction that was probably unstoppable,\u201d Cupich would later tell O\u2019Connell in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>Pope Leo was elected on the fourth vote, having appeased conservatives but without winning over some members of the Curia.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4201981\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4201981\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/webRNS-New-Pope06-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Cardinal Robert Prevost appears on the central loggia of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, choosing the name of Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>O\u2019Connell reports a telling moment after Leo was announced as pope. Curial officials expecting to celebrate Parolin\u2019s election were \u201cstunned, frozen, defeated,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut a monsignor tries to react positively: \u2018Lo faremo uno di noi\u2019 (We will make him one of us),\u2019 he remarks, trying to raise their spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Franco\u2019s book also includes a previously unreported meeting in June between the Chinese delegation and the Vatican, roughly one month after Leo\u2019s election. He wrote that the \u201cdelegation left Rome unconvinced and decided to not make a rash judgment,\u201d suggesting that relations with Beijing will likely continue to be a persistent challenge for the new papacy.<\/p>\n<p>Piqu\u00e9 and O\u2019Connell claim that it was ultimately Francis\u2019 shaping of the College of Cardinals that led to Leo\u2019s election. \u201cFrancis could not choose his successor, but he created the conditions that made Leo\u2019s election possible,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cIt was his last surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Franco, Leo\u2019s election \u201callows the Vatican to play on an ever-evolving international chess board\u201d as a credible advocate for peace. \u201cIt will be promoted by a church that will have to reconcile with itself, before reconciling with the rest of the world,\u201d he wrote. \u201cFrom this perspective, the first geopolitical challenge of the U.S. papacy will be the ghost of its own divisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/04\/24\/two-new-books-reveal-secrets-alliances-behind-pope-leos-election\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 Nearly a year after the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, two deeply sourced books offer competing portraits of the context and maneuvering behind the first U.S. pope\u2019s election. \u201cPopes, Dollars and Wars,\u201d by renowned Italian journalist Massimo Franco, traces how the church in the United States, long treated in Rome as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}