Is Pope Leo XIV the Reincarnation of Pope Leo XIII?

5/12/2025

You'd be wrong if you thought this was a black-and-white picture of Pope Leo XIV. This is actually Pope Leo X111. Below is Pope Le XIV.

There is a resemblance that got me thinking about the Dalai Lama. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is a fact of their culture to expect leaders of their spiritual tradition to return (be reincarnated). Besides the Dalai Lama, the high lamas and Bodhisattvas are reincarnated repeatedly. They promise to return until all humanity is enlightened. So why wouldn’t the Pope, the high leadership of the church, feel obliged to come back? The main difference between the two traditions would be that the Pople wouldn’t remember his past life since his religion doesn’t believe in such things, whereas the Dalai Lama would be encouraged to do so.

In Tibetan culture, he prophesies his rebirth before the Dalai Lama dies. Lamas then use his prophecy to determine where, when, and who will be the next incarnation. The lamas and/or monks must get to the child early enough to determine the new incarnation, not just because he is trained early on and taken to a monastery, but because the memory of the past life fades as the child gets older. This phenomenon has been witnessed all over the world with researchers who followed up with very young children who insisted on their names, villages, family background, and how they died (usually they were murdered). The children were so adamant about who they had been that their families indulged them and took them to their past life village/town/city.