Pope Leo XIV is the right Pontiff for our times and his popularity is enjoyed by Catholics and others - Gallop poll

Echo report published in Aleteia by Cerith Gardiner

Overcoming a long-standing aversion to the election of a U.S. pontiff, on May 8, 2025, the College of Cardinals announced they had selected Chicagoan Robert Francis Prevost to serve as the 267th pope and shepherd of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. 

At a time when public confidence in leadership is battered by polarization, conflict, and skepticism, one global figure stands out: Pope Leo. According to the Gallup International End of Year Survey, he is the only contemporary global leader with a positive net reputation worldwide — a remarkable distinction in a fractured age.

In the survey, conducted between October and December 2025, among 64,097 adults in 61 countries, paints a vivid picture of global sentiment. With 49% favorable, 25% unfavorable, and 26% undecided, Pope Leo’s net favorability score is +24 — the only positive score in the entire ranking. His appeal spans cultures and continents: He holds a net positive image in 51 of the 61 countries surveyed.

What it takes to be a good leader❓

Statistics, of course, only tell part of the story. 

Numbers can describe popularity, but they cannot fully explain why certain figures resonate across cultures and continents. Yet, Pope Leo’s broad appeal hints at something many people instinctively recognize: genuine leadership tends to carry a different texture altogether.

We often imagine leaders as commanding personalities — decisive, confident, perhaps even a little intimidating. But the leaders who endure in memory are rarely those who dominate a room. They are more often those who steady it. They bring clarity without noise, authority without harshness, and conviction without spectacle.

In daily life, most of us encounter leadership not on global stages but in far humbler settings: workplaces, families, friendships, parish groups, even WhatsApp chats. And there, the qualities of good leadership feel surprisingly familiar.

A good leader is rarely the loudest voice, but often the calmest. They have a way of making others feel seen rather than managed. They take responsibility when things wobble and share credit when things succeed. They create space rather than competition. Above all, they inspire trust — not through force, but through consistency and character.

What it takes to be a good follower

Equally revealing, though, is what such examples teach about being a follower, a role we all inhabit far more often than we admit. 

Modern culture celebrates leadership so enthusiastically that followership sometimes sounds passive or secondary. In reality, being a good follower is its own quiet art.

Good followers are not merely compliant; they are engaged. They lend energy rather than resistance, encouragement rather than cynicism. They recognize that shared efforts thrive on cooperation, not ego. They allow themselves to be guided without surrendering thoughtfulness or integrity. In the best cases, they make leadership easier simply by bringing goodwill into the room.

Because, in the end, most communities do not flourish through dramatic gestures of authority, but through the gentle, daily exchange of trust.

And that, as any family, office, or parish knows, is leadership’s most underrated miracle. Seen this way, Pope Leo’s reputation becomes less a curiosity of polling and more a reflection of something deeply human. People respond, across nations and backgrounds, to figures who embody steadiness, sincerity, and moral clarity. These are traits that transcend ideology because they speak to a universal longing for reassurance and coherence.

Perhaps the deeper lesson is not really about papal approval ratings at all. It is about the kinds of qualities that quietly draw people together — patience, humility, reliability, kindness — whether one is leading or following.