On the night before Christmas, Pope Leo XIV stood at the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and led his first Christmas Eve Mass, a solemn scene that returned a long‑missing note of unity and faith to the heart of Christendom. Millions watching around the world saw more than ceremony; they saw a pope willing to put the sacred back at the center of the season and to remind Western civilization what Christmas really celebrates. For Americans in particular, seeing one of our own preside over that moment was quietly historic and deeply moving.
Leo XIV’s election earlier this year — on May 8, 2025 — made him the first American to hold the Petrine office, a fact that gives patriotic Catholics here a special stake in how the Vatican navigates the crises of our age. His background as a missionary and administrator has prompted cautious optimism among conservatives who want steady, traditional leadership rather than the social‑engineering experiments of recent years. Whether he leans into that conservatism or drifts toward technocratic Vaticanism will shape the Church’s moral witness for a generation.
One of the early signs of that potential return to reverence was the decision to restore the traditional Christmas schedule: a late evening Christmas Eve vigil and a Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, practices that had been altered in recent pontificates and by pandemic disruptions. Pope Leo’s return to these time‑honored customs signaled respect for liturgical continuity and a refusal to let modern convenience dictate sacred rhythms. Devout Catholics who have longed for a firmer anchor of tradition welcomed the move as a practical and symbolic correction.
The crowd in Rome and the faithful tuning in worldwide were reminded that religion still matters in public life; reports say more than 10,000 people took part in the Vatican’s Christmas Eve liturgies, even as Christians in Bethlehem and across the Holy Land marked a cautious revival of celebrations amid regional instability. That turnout should put to rest the notion that Western faith is merely a private hobby for elites — real people showed up to pray, kneel, and sing on Christmas Eve. Conservatives ought to celebrate a cultural moment when faith visibly resists the erasure of our traditions.
If Pope Leo is serious about governance as well as liturgy, his calendar shows it: he has summoned the world’s cardinals for a full consistory in early January, a step that underscores his intent to build consensus and exert steady leadership after taking office in May. This is the kind of institutional discipline conservatives admire — accountable, orderly, and focused on the Church’s mission rather than on spectacle or political signaling. Americans who care about the Church’s clarity on issues like religious freedom and the sanctity of life should pay close attention to how this new pope staffs the Vatican and structures his agenda.
Already, Leo XIV has begun making appointments that will test his priorities, naming new archbishops and bishops in key sees — including the selection of a successor in New York — moves that will have immediate consequences for American Catholic life. These personnel choices will reveal whether he will protect pro‑life teaching and pastoral clarity or accommodate cultural impulses that confuse rather than console the faithful. Conservatives must be ready to praise firmness where it appears and to criticize compromise where it threatens the Church’s moral authority.
Hardworking Americans of faith should take this Christmas as a moment to pray for the pope and to keep a watchful, hopeful eye on the Vatican. Our country has always been strongest when strong families and confident churches sustain the public square, and seeing a fellow American at St. Peter’s preaching the Gospel is a reminder that patriotism and piety can go hand in hand. Let us support a papacy that restores reverence, defends the unborn, and reorients the Church toward spiritual renewal rather than political fashion.
