Commonweal’s editor at-large, Mollie Wilson O’Reilly, has been busy during this historic inflection point for the Catholic Church, and has been in high-demand for commentary on contemporary politics, Pope Leo, and the future of the Church.
First, O’Reilly offered two pieces for MSNBC on the conclave and on the new pope for Chicago. In her second piece, published the day after Leo’s elevation, O’Reilly reflected on the relationship between the new American pope and this turbulent era of American politics. “He chose a name that recalls the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, whose writings in support of workers’ rights and human dignity earned him a reputation as the father of Catholic Social Teaching,” she explained. “That choice seems to be a deliberate signal of solidarity with the working class and the poor, and when the moment comes for Leo XIV to express those principles, he will be difficult to ignore.” Especially so, O’Reilly argued, because of Leo’s newfound proximity to American Catholics—after all, he sounds “like any Midwesterner, flat vowels and all.”
That same morning, O’Reilly joined WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show alongside David Gibson, the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion and Culture. Together, O’Reilly and Gibson tried to help WNYC’s audience understand the new pope’s background and outlook—including on issues such as women’s ordination, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and more.
While both guests agreed that rapid and substantive movement on these issues is unlikely, O’Reilly mentioned that much remains to be seen about the new pope—and especially his relationship with controversies facing the American Church. “He was brought up in America, but I don't see him as ‘an American bishop,’” she explained. “Because he spent most of his life ministering outside the US, he became a bishop not in the United States, but in Peru, and that was the diocese where he spent his ministry. He's not very well known in the US. He's not a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” Her point—that “the least American of the Americans” might surprise the presupposition of American Catholics—will be tested and refined over the coming months, as Leo’s approach for the Church comes into focus.
Just a few days later, on May 13, O’Reilly continued her “media tour” by joining hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy on As the World Churns to dissect the first few days of Leo’s pontificate and her recent MSNBC pieces. She explained that the new pope’s fluency in English posed new opportunities and challenges for Catholic commentary: given the depth of easily English-language material about Leo, O’Reilly mused that “He’s so easy for me to understand, but now it’s harder for me to say simple things about who he is and what he thinks … He’s just a normal guy and not this weird, otherworldly figure we think of when we think of popes.”
O’Reilly explained that Leo’s elevation removes a common excuse from conservative American Catholics eager to reject papal teaching on immigration, capital punishment, war and peace, or other issues. “J.D. Vance famously tried to claim that [cutting foreign aid and deporting immigrants] was supported by Catholic teaching,” she explained, prompting a fiery reply from Pope Francis. “It makes me feel good—and should make someone like J.D. Vance concerned— that the pope can speak extremely clearly, can understand what’s happening without anyone explaining it to him, and can speak back if he wants to.” At the same time, O’Reilly urged listeners to temper their immediate expectations: even if there are encouraging signs, it is too early to tell when and where Leo will push back on Trump, Vance, or the American right more generally.
Lastly (for now), O’Reilly sat down on the Paulist Fathers’s Deacons Pod on May 27 for a wider-ranging discussion based on a recent homily O’Reilly offered for Catholic Women Preach a few weeks prior. On the podcast, she discussed the challenges of staying Catholic in a Church which frequently disappoints. In particular, O’Reilly discussed the Church’s need to find more inclusive paths for LGBTQ+ people and women leaders in Catholic communities. She impressed on listeners the need for greater openness to frank conversations about doctrinal reform: “I can say whatever I want to say, because nobody can fire me—I don’t work for the Church,” O’Reilly explained. “But especially if you are an ordained minister or if you work for the Church, there’s still the letter of the teaching [on LGBTQ+ issues] that you have to pay lip service to. We’re getting to the point where there’s only so much welcoming and outreach you can do when that same teaching is still a weapon. The Church is still where our culture was 25 years ago.”
O’Reilly and the hosts even found their angle to discuss Commonweal. “We used to have a tagline: ‘Catholic. Liberal. Opinionated,’” she joked. “That was pretty handy, but it’s a publication published by lay Catholics and its goal is to apply the viewpoint of the Catholic Church to the world and to help the world interface with the Catholic Church a little better.”
As an opinionated liberal Catholic, we’re sure O’Reilly will continue to offer her insights, witness, and analysis in the pages of Commonweal and beyond. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for further coverage of this historic moment for the Church and the world.
