Hello and welcome to the G0 World Podcast.

This is where you can find extended versions of my show on public television.

I'm Ian Bremmer, and today we are talking about religion, where it stands in America and what it means for the rest of the world.

That's because the biggest religion story of the year touches both.

I'm talking about Pope Leo the 14th, the

world's first American Pope. You've probably read plenty about his perfect Spanish, his questionable

loyalty to the White Sox, and the headlines he's making in Rome and Washington. But I want to look

deeper into how his papacy could reshape global politics.

President Trump, for example, has floated the idea that Pope Leo could broker peace

between Russia and Ukraine, since Trump can't, and what it reveals about the spiritual

moment we're living through in the United States.

Because here's the thing. Americans still want to believe. According to Pew, 92% of people in the United States because here's the thing. Americans still want to believe. According to Pew,

92% of people in the United States believe in the soul or something beyond this world,

but what that belief looks like in practice is messy. Gallup's long-term data shows a steady decline

religion used to be very important to 70% of Americans in 1965 before I was born.

That number is down to 45% today.

But the number of Americans who pray daily has held steady in the last five years between 44 and 46%.

That's pretty high.

And about a third still attends services monthly.

The decline is slowed.

It might even be reversing.

To talk about all this and more,

...