Firstly, there is a shared shift in the Church’s centre of gravity between the two men. The election of Karol Wojty?a in 1978 was a momentous event: for the first time in over four centuries, the Pope was not Italian. The election of Robert Francis Prevost on 8 May 2025 marked another shift in the centre of gravity.
Born in Chicago, he became a Peruvian citizen after years of missionary work and service as a bishop in Peru; he is both the first pope from the United States and the first Augustinian to ascend to the Chair of Peter. Both Leo XIV and John Paul II therefore arrived in Rome with a worldly experience that had not been forged solely within the corridors of the Vatican.
Yet their life stories reflect two very different 20th centuries. John Paul II was a child of a Poland ravaged first by Nazism and then subjugated by communism. During the German occupation, Wojty?a worked in a quarry and then at the Solvay factory, attended the seminary in secret and took part in the clandestine Rhapsodic Theatre. This experience of totalitarian violence would profoundly shape his pontificate and his conception of human freedom.
Robert Prevost belongs to a different generation and a different history. Trained as a mathematician before studying theology and then canon law, he was an Augustinian friar, a missionary and a bishop in Peru before being called to Rome by Pope Francis to head the Dicastery for Bishops. Leo XIV gained his experience primarily through the practical governance of the Church, pastoral work and intercultural engagement. He is fluent in several languages and embodies a dual North American and Latin American background that is quite exceptional for a pope.
The most visible difference, however, remains that of temperament. John Paul II was a man of the stage in almost the literal sense. The theatre was part of his youth, and this was reflected in the way he spoke, looked out at a crowd, played with silences and physically occupied the space. He transformed papal journeys into huge popular events. During his twenty-seven-year pontificate, he undertook 104 international apostolic journeys. Few religious leaders have been photographed, filmed and seen in person by millions of people to such an extent.
Leo XIV operates differently. His first few months have revealed a man who is more reserved, methodical, and inclined to listen and seek counsel. From the very start of his pontificate, Reuters noted this more cautious approach to decision-making, a far cry from the spectacular command of the stage that characterised John Paul II. This is not necessarily a lack of charisma: it is a different kind of charisma. John Paul II moved towards the crowd. Leo XIV, on the other hand, seems to be seeking to bring the crowd together.
One major commonality emerges, however: both men believe that the Pope must speak to the whole world, and not just to Catholics. John Paul II had given this idea one of its most powerful expressions with the 1986 interfaith meeting in Assisi, which brought together leaders of the major religions to discuss peace. Throughout his pontificate, he would foster interfaith dialogue whilst very clearly upholding the Church’s Christian identity.
Leo XIV, too, has, ever since his appearance on the balcony of St Peter’s, employed a language of peace and dialogue. His first words as Pope were ‘Peace be with you all!’, and he immediately described this peace as ‘unarmed and disarming’. He also called for building bridges and advocated for a missionary, welcoming and synodal Church. A few days later, he reaffirmed his commitment to continuing the ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and the synodal approach initiated under Francis.
But here again, the eras are radically different. John Paul II became Pope in the midst of the Cold War. Underlying much of his pontificate was the confrontation between the Western democracies and the Soviet bloc, with Poland as a major symbolic location. Leo XIV arrives in a world without a single ideological confrontation, but one riven by a multitude of divisions: wars, geopolitical rivalries, the environmental crisis, migration, changes in the world of work, social media, disinformation and, now, artificial intelligence.
It is perhaps here that his most interesting singularity lies. By choosing the name Léon, Robert Prevost explicitly referred to Leo XIII and to *Rerum Novarum*, the encyclical that had confronted the Church with the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution. Léon XIV believes that our own era is, in turn, undergoing a comparable revolution driven by artificial intelligence and new technologies, which, in his view, raise fundamental questions about work, justice and human dignity. As recently as September 2026, he called for the development of artificial intelligence systems that do not exacerbate divisions or conflicts.
John Paul II, too, had placed human dignity at the heart of his social doctrine, rejecting both the reduction of the human person to Marxist collectivism and their reduction to a mere economic logic. But whilst John Paul II was the Pope of a world divided between East and West, Leo XIV could become the Pope of a world divided between humankind and the systems that humankind itself is in the process of creating.
There is also a difference in their practical conception of governance. John Paul II powerfully embodied the papal office through his very person: his voice, his travels, his gestures and, later, even his frail body became an integral part of his message. Leo XIV places greater emphasis on collegiality, consultation and synodality. As early as May 2025, speaking before the cardinals, he explicitly listed the growth of collegiality and synodality amongst the priorities he intended to pursue.
So, is Leo XIV the new John Paul II? Probably not, and that is perhaps precisely what makes the comparison interesting. Both men share an international papacy, an obsession with peace, a penchant for dialogue with other religions and the conviction that the Church must engage with the major questions of its time. But their methods are almost diametrically opposed.
John Paul II was the pope of public presence: a white figure amidst vast crowds, an instantly recognisable voice, a man capable of transforming a pastoral visit into a global event. Leo XIV, so far, seems to be more the pope of mediation: less theatrical, more discreet, focusing on encounters, listening and striking a balance.
Yet there may be a deeper resemblance between them than mere style. John Paul II had realised that the papacy had to step out of the Vatican to confront the great historical issue of his time. Leo XIV seems to want to do the same. It is simply that the major issue is no longer communism. It is now the fragmentation of the world, accompanied by a dizzying set of questions about peace, technology and the place of humankind.
In this sense, Leo XIV is undoubtedly not a new John Paul II. He could be, for a completely different era, his equivalent in office: a pope who is attempting to make Rome not only the centre of a religion, but one of the places from which one still speaks to the whole world.
