An 'extremely joyful day' for US Catholics as Leo XIV becomes first pope from US
The stunning news of the Catholic Church's first U.S.-born pope gave way to excitement for Catholics across the United States, who greeted the announcement that Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost had been named the global church's leader with delight.
“I’m thrilled,” said Moises Rodrigues, a longtime city councilor in Brockton, Massachusetts. “Imagine, for the first time in our history having an American pope. Someone who understands American issues. And he’s also a friend of Pope Francis. I’m in gagaga land.”
Prevost, a 69-year-old longshot known for his prudence and an approach similar to his predecessor, Pope Francis, chose the name Leo XIV. He has extensive missionary experience in Peru, where he spent 40 years, and his immediate ancestors are Spanish and French.
Prevost attended Villanova University and Catholic Theological Union in Chicago before earning a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
He served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops (formerly known as the Congregation for Bishops) and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since 2023. He was also the bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 to 2023, part of a nearly four-decade stretch when he went back and forth between serving in Peru and Chicago, starting in 1985.
Rodrigues, a mayoral candidate who works as a child protection specialist for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, thinks his fellow parishioners will also be thrilled.
“I can’t wait to go to church on Sunday,” he said.
The Rev. Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the director of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC, said the selection “totally shocked” him.
“I never thought in my lifetime I would see an American pope,” he said as he listened to Pope Leo XIV's first words through a cell phone. “Today is an extremely joyful day.”
Jameson, who leads operations at the mother church of the archbishop of Washington, applauded the selection and says he's hopeful the new pope will push for unity, peace and inclusivity as Francis had.
“He is someone who will continue the work of Francis and, for me, that’s very important,” Jameson said.
Pope LEO XIV's selection sends 'a really strong message'
When Gabby Innamorato and some of her coworkers heard the cardinals had selected a new pope, she rushed out of her office and headed into Washington's St. Matthew’s Cathedral across the street.
Innamorato, who works for an international nonprofit, said she was unfamiliar with Prevost and was hoping for Luis Antonio Tagle, of the Philippines. But after listening to Pope Leo XIV’s first words from the balcony at St. Peter’s Square, she feels hopeful that the new pope, like Francis, will be “a man of the people.”
“This is a surprise, but not in a bad way,” she said. “I just did not expect it.”
Her coworker, Michael Schipler, noted how Leo greeted the people of his diocese in Chicago and Peru in Spanish – not English.
“It’s a really strong message,” he said. “I wanted a pope who would be a clear moral voice for justice and peace in the world, and for him to speak in Spanish instead of English – already, right there, is something powerful and important.”
In Sparkill, in New York's Rockland County, nuns belonging to the Dominican Sisters watched with joy as Leo delivered his first address to the public. One lauded Prevost's Chicago roots — "He's a Cubs fan!" — while others noted his similarities with the late Pope Francis.
"He's going to be a people's pope," said Sister Aileen Donovan, tearing up with excitement. "He has worked among the poor, he's a missionary, and he's an order priest."
At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a Democrat now running for New Mexico governor, had stopped to light a candle for her late aunt. Haaland, who is Pueblo and the first Native American Cabinet secretary, said she hoped Leo would lead with empathy and compassion to make the church more inclusive.
"Every single human being deserves dignity and respect," she said. "We can't live anyone else's lives."
Tim Anderson, 61, a vice president in store development, had rushed to the cathedral from his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, traveling by bus through midtown Manhattan. An Irish Catholic, he sat on the church steps watching a stream of Pope Leo XIV speak on his phone, holding a rosary in his hand.
"An American was last on my list," Anderson said. "I didn't think that was possible."
He hopes the selection of the first U.S.-born pope will revitalize the church and restore the populated pews he remembers as child growing up in New Haven, Connecticut.
"Hopefully this could bring it back," he said. "Some positive energy with all the bad that's in the world right now."
Hope for more church revitalization
Tyler Duvelius, a lifelong Catholic and Ohio resident who once met Pope Francis at the Vatican, was watching a Zoom meeting on one computer monitor and a live feed on the other when he first saw the white smoke rise from the chimney.
When Prevost appeared on the balcony, “I was shocked,” Duvelius said. “I really didn’t think we’d see an American pope anytime soon. It’s really quite emotional.”
Duvelius said he hoped the choice would prolong what he sees as the Catholic Church’s revitalization in America.
“I really hope that we in America keep him as a spiritual leader and don’t allow our politics to play an outsized role in how we view this pope," he said. "He’s the pope for the entire world, and I hope we keep that in mind.”
William Miles, a professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, had considered the selection of an U.S.-born pope a dark-horse possibility as a “theo-political” response to social policies in the United States with which Pope Francis had expressed dismay.
“Given what’s happening politically in this country, choosing an American shows that America is not entirely represented by the MAGA president,” Miles said. “It’s saying they’re concerned about the moral and spiritual direction that the U.S. is taking.”
Miles noted the papal transition is happening at a time when the President Donald Trump’s administration is ramping up deportations.
“The plight of the immigrant is the one thing that Pope Francis most directly challenged President Trump on,” he said. “The Catholic Church wants to put another kind of American face out to the world. To paraphrase the first President Bush, a ‘kinder, gentler’ face. And who else but a pope can rival an American president for the world’s attention?”
Prevost beat doubts about his relatively young age and cardinal experience. According to Jake Ashton of the British-based Online Betting Guide, Prevost was a 66-1 longshot.
“Hopefully, Pope Leo XIV will actually create effective programs to help clergy sexual abuse victims try to heal, screen and supervise priests and prevent clergy sexual abuse,” said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has handled thousands of clergy abuse cases. “The Catholic Church has to understand that the safety of innocent children cannot be sacrificed for an outdated and inexcusable need to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church.”
Trump, addressing the media, said of the selection of a pope from the United States: "What greater honor could there be?"
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, Christopher Cann, Dinah Pulver, Deena Yellin, Chris Helms, John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz, Kim Hjelmgaard and Susan Miller