“Will Pope Leo lead the vanguard of the leaderless Democrats against the man whose base includes Catholics who mostly haven’t been to college like JD Vance,” asks The Gadfly columnist ROBERT MACKLIN. 

Some Americans who watched the recently released film Conclave will have felt pretty sure they knew exactly what was happening behind those closed doors as the 133 Cardinals were choosing the new Pope.

Perfectly appropriate, since in real life the winner was an American, Robert Prevost and the movie was pure Hollywood. 

Sure, the star was British-born Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, but the cast overflowed with big American names such as John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, and the lovely Isabella Rossellini had a plot point that sank the bad guy.

Most (I hope) would have realised that the picture was nothing like real life. Indeed, the plot had all the ingredients of a Monty Python comedy, including especially that they all pretended it was serious. The gowns were gorgeous and the setting illustrious. As Ralph Twisteton-Wykeham-Fiennes conducted the Conclave, it was easy to believe that in the end he’d “win one for the Gipper” and don the golden tit-fer that decorated Mr Trump’s noggin in recent days. The twist was that Ralph didn’t believe in God any more, so in the climax he had to pull out.

But that’s “old” Hollywood. In the 2020s, there’s got to be another twist and when, early in the piece they introduced a soulful little chap who had the unlikely honorific of Archbishop of Kabul – yes, that capital of Taliban-encrusted Islam – I felt for sure that’s going to be their clever twist.

However, even I, a Hollywood cynic of the first water, was completely unprepared for the twist on the twist. It turned out that when he was 30 years old, they – presumably the first doctor he’d ever met – discovered that he was the proud possessor of a uterus! Honestly. He turned out to be both man and woman. Even Monty Python wouldn’t have dared, even Chubby Checker would have quailed before including a twist that revolutionary.  

But when the cardinals heard about it, they barely turned a hair beneath their skull caps. Instead, they gave him-her a rousing hand of applause.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was sending his picture of himself as Pope across the airwaves and one can’t help but wonder how Cardinal Prevost, now translated to Pope Leo XIV, will affect the other would-be autocrat in the White House. He’s already crossed swords with the Don’s Vice, JD Vance. Will he lead the vanguard of the leaderless Democrats against the man whose base includes Catholics who mostly haven’t been to college like JD?

So far, the signs are that his attitude to refugees will arouse his opposition to Trump’s determination to deport more than a million “undocumented” immigrants, many of them to jails in El Salvadore. 

The New York Times is hopeful. Its reporter Tyler Pager says Leo disapproves of some of the Trump administration’s hard-line stances. 

“A social media account under his name has reposted messages critical of the president’s positions on issues including immigration, gun control and climate change,” he wrote. 

“In February, the account shared a link to an article in The National Catholic Reporter titled ‘JD Vance Is Wrong: Jesus Doesn’t Ask Us to Rank Our Love for Others‘.”

Moreover, his brother John Prevost says: “I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration. I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.” 

Of course, we can’t be sure. No doubt Leo will consult with his Friend Upstairs before taking a final decision… and as we know, there’s many a twist ‘twixt the cup and the lip. 

robert@robertmacklin.com