Meet the Jesuit Cardinal Behind Pope Leo’s Social Justice Revolution

From drafting Leo's first apostolic exhortation to championing migrants and the planet, Cardinal Michael Czerny is shaping the moral heart of this papacy.

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a series of deeply reported essays that, together, offer the most complete portrait yet of Pope Leo — not just his own life and formation, but also the circle of people he trusts most as he begins his pontificate.

Why? Because if Leo XIV is to be the world’s most credible moral leader in this defining moment for America and the globe, then we need to know the men and women he relies on to carry out his vision.

Today’s essay turns to Pope Leo’s cabinet and to Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny, Leo’s closest advisor on immigration, climate, and a myriad of other social justice issues.

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• Part V profiles his closest cardinal confidant, Luis Antonio Tagle.

• Part VI examines how his thirty years in Peru will affect his pontificate.

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• Part VIII is a deep dive into the most powerful woman in Pope Leo’s cabinet and the Catholic Church.

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Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, has emerged as Pope Leo XIV’s foremost advisor on social justice, playing a pivotal role in shaping the new pontiff’s agenda on poverty, migration, and care for creation.

A 79-year-old Canadian Jesuit and veteran of Vatican service, Czerny was one of Pope Francis’s closest advisers and now serves Pope Leo in carrying forward a progressive social vision.

From helping draft Pope Leo’s first major teaching document to spearheading a new “Mass for the Care of Creation,” Czerny’s influence is evident at the highest levels of the church’s new direction.

Crafting Pope Leo’s Vision: From Exhortation to Creation Mass

One of Czerny’s most significant contributions has been to Pope Leo’s inaugural apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), which focuses on the Church’s love for the poor. Czerny helped carry this text from conception to publication — a project begun under the late Pope Francis and completed under Leo.

At the Vatican press conference unveiling Dilexi Te in October 2025, Czerny stressed that the exhortation “is Pope Leo’s document. It is the magisterium of the Church,” even though Pope Francis had drafted its early sections.

When asked how much of the text came from Francis versus Leo, he insisted, “It is 100% Francis, and it is 100% Leo,” emphasizing the continuity between the two popes’ vision.

“No new pope starts with an empty desk and a clear agenda,” Czerny explained, underscoring how Leo built upon Francis’s work.

Asked whether Leo’s new document — along with the pope’s call for care of creation and welcome for LGBT Catholics — makes him a “liberal pope,” Czerny replied:

“Is the Gospel liberal? I guess that’s my answer.”