The election of a new Pope has left conservatives divided.

On Thursday, the Cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost, an Augustinian from Chicago, in record-breaking time. 

Within hours of the news, conservatives alternately praised and criticized the 69-year-old Prevost, who has chosen the name Leo XIV.

“It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. “What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, also extended his congratulations to Prevost: "I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!"

Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk claims Prevost’s voting history indicated that the new pope will be an ally on mainline conservative issues. 

“He's a registered Republican who has voted in Republican primaries when not living abroad,” Kirk said. “Our data shows he's a strong Republican, and he's pro-life.”

The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, a Catholic, noted, “The left-right political paradigm does not map neatly onto an institution that predates it by 1,800 years. The most liberal Catholic prelate is substantially to the right of most conservative Republicans on most issues.”

Amid cautious praise and congratulations, other commentators criticized Prevost as an open borders liberal globalist who’s been critical of Trump.

“Stop with the ‘Pope Leo XIV is a registered Republican’ cope. He’s a total liberal hack," said political strategist Joey Mannarino. “Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are also registered Republicans. The guy is bad news. Period. We have lost the church.”

Mannarino added, “This just keeps getting worse and worse,” referring to a 2020 retweet from Prevost referencing George Floyd. 

Author Mike Cernovich slammed the new Pope as “a shitlib [who] is going to have many Catholics exploring Orthodoxy.” 

“Sorry, Catholics. This new Pope is an open borders globalist,” he added. “He will be pushing for abortion soon. This isn’t a guess. You can scroll his X account and see what he’s been up to.”

When one user took investigative journalist Laura Loomer to task for calling Prevost “just another Marxist puppet at the Vatican,” she responded, “I don’t need to be Catholic to see with my own eyes.” 

“There’s nothing to celebrate,” Loomer continued. “What do you want to do? Blow some smoke and cry over a pope who supports mass migration and open borders?” 

She added: “Conservatives love losing. They LOVE IT!”

Another user unearthed retweets from Prevost condemning Trump for his stance on illegal immigration and calling for the president to “Act on Climate.” 

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh pointed out that a significant portion of the new Pope’s critics are not Catholic, nor do they respect or understand Catholicism. 

“If you aren't Catholic then you don't believe that this Pope was elected through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so you'll troll through his twitter feed and analyze his selection through a modern political lens, as if he was just elected to a seat in the US senate rather than the Chair of Saint Peter,” Walsh wrote on X. “If you are a believing Catholic then you do (or should) believe that his election is ordained by God. You view it through the lens of 2,000 years of Church history and the eternal will of the Almighty God. From that perspective, playing the gotcha game with old tweets is silly and bizarre.” 

“This is why any conversation about the Pope on this site is destined to be disjointed, confused, and ultimately useless,” he added. 

"This is the first greeting of the risen Christ. May the peace be with you," Prevost remarked in Italian in his first comments as pope. "This is the peace of the risen Christ."