One year on the job, the first US pope wins support for his progressive views and his defiance of Donald Trump
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s Pope Leo XIV concludes his first year as the first American pope on Friday, Americans shared with the Guardian how they feel about the 70-year-old pontiff who has increasingly found himself at odds with Donald Trump.
Several described his papacy as a “breath of fresh air” compared with earlier, more conservative eras of church leadership.
For Brock Horton, a 69-year-old retired public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the pope feels “authentic and not just an archaic mouthpiece for a failing religion”.
