Father Dave welcomes Elise Ann Allen, Senior Correspondent for Crux, who recently conducted the first extensive papal interview of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. The wide-ranging two-part interview was in research for her papal biography, “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century.” The book is now available in Spanish by Penguin Peru and will be published in English in 2026.
They discuss how Elise spent time with Pope Leo prior to his pontificate. “I had actually met Robert Prevost in 2018 when I was in Peru doing a reporting trip. He was still Bishop of Chiclayo at the time, and I remember being very impressed that an American ended up a bishop in another country,” she begins. “[I learned] in Peru, that’s a fairly common thing; You have a lot of foreign missionaries who have been elevated over the decades.”
Elise and her husband John are Americans but live and report in Rome. “When Pope Francis appointed [Pope Leo] to Rome as head of the Dicastery for Bishops, and he was made a Cardinal, we paid a courtesy visit just as his fellow Americans to say, ‘Welcome, and you’re welcome in our home anytime,’” she continues, noting that he later came to their home for dinner in October of 2024.
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With this background in mind, they discuss Elise’s experience interviewing Pope Leo as pontiff. “As a reporter, it’s very exciting. Any time you’re interviewing somebody at that level, it comes with some pre-packed anxiety,” she says. “I hadn’t seen him in a private context since [his election], so it was very strange at first. Then immediately he says, ‘Oh, how are you? How’s John?’ and it was very comfortable. He’s just Robert Prevost; Now he’s Pope Leo, but he’s the same guy.”
“I think he enjoyed reflecting on all the steps of his life. You could tell he was remembering things that were important to him, things that had touched him, or special moments along the way of his own vocation and missionary life,” Elise continues. “It was nice to be able to see him in that context, and to see him so reflective and open. That’s what impressed me most about him, is just his openness and how sincere, honest, and transparent he wanted to be with his answers.”
Father Dave and Elise note how Pope Leo’s perspective is shaped by both his American heritage and his time as a missionary. Elise says, “He was superior of his global religious order, the Augustinians, for 12 years. So I think he’s one of the very few cardinals that had that global perspective of managing an order prior to his election. Pope Francis was never head of the Jesuits, coming into [his papacy]…Leo traveled to four dozen countries in his time as Prior General.”
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At this early juncture of his papacy, Elise reflects on Pope Leo’s message of peace. “Those were his first words on the balcony: ‘Peace be with you.’ He talked about building bridges and the synodal church, and I think for him, that’s all very much intertwined,” she says. “One of the things we did talk about in the interview, in addition to global conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza, was polarization in the world. The world is very deeply polarized, and so is the Church. How do you build bridges within that? How do you build peace within your own home?”
“It’s something the cardinals and the pre-conclave general congregation meetings were talking a lot about: Who can bring unity, and who can bring communion?” she continues. “He’s somebody that sees it as his mandate to bring peace, I think, or to help try to foster that. He said very clearly, it’s not [his] job to solve the world’s problems, [he’s] here to encourage people in their faith.”
“He says that he’s trying not to be more polarizing right now; He wants to take the temperature down. He wants people to just take a breath, calm down a little bit, and try to focus on what really matters, which is the heart of the Gospel message,” Elise concludes.
