Reporters have rarely been fans of faith in politics, and often decry the Republican Party’s cozy relationship with religious Americans, such as evangelical Christians. But give them a pope willing to criticize President Donald Trump,

Pope Leo XIV called for a kinder, gentler mass media, one that speaks up for those with no voice and in defense of free speech, and urged regimes around the world that jail journalists to set them free.

The pontiff held his first meeting with the news media at the Vatican and called on reporters to choose “the path of communication in favor of peace.”