Pope Leo XIV, traditional and progressive?

Many are using the word moderate to describe Pope Leo XIV and of course it is really too soon to say much about the kind of papacy we are going to see reveal itself. But my initial thought is this is a traditional and progressive figure. He spoke Italian, the language of Rome, in his short first address, and Spanish to a wider poorer world; Traditional and progressive.

He wore the ritual dress commonly worn by Popes, unlike Francis, but chose Leo, the name of the Pope who launched the social teaching of the Church with its focus on workers rights and the dignity of the person in the 18th century; Traditional and progressive.

He is an Augustinian, steeped in a dedication towards the search for truth and a missionary who went out and lived a life in Peru; Traditional and progressive.

I may be stretching those words now but there is definitely a two tone complexion in the background of this new figure. Even his birth in the wealthy west, and life in the impoverished global south speaks to that.

He might be a striking message to a divided world in the midst of a crisis of truth, meaning and existence: don’t forget the treasury of the past, and don’t forget that to live is also to change and lean forward. He might be a prophet to both conservatives and liberals.