Six months on, Pope Leo finds his footing and starts charting his own path and style

“You get used to it.” That was Pope Leo XIV‘s matter-of-fact response when King Charles III asked about the swarms of television cameras documenting his historic visit to the Vatican last month. After his shocking election in May and sharp learning curve over the summer, Leo’s key priorities are coming into focus, especially where he dovetails with his predecessor, Pope Francis, and where he diverges. In one case of a reversal, Leo abrogated a 2022 law issued by Francis that concentrated financial power in the Vatican bank. Leo issued his own law allowing the Holy See’s investment committee to use other banks outside the Vatican.