The American Pope

When Cardinal Dominique Mamberti appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica last Thursday, there was a real possibility that the man he would announce as the new pope would represent a geographic first for the Catholic Church. Among the reported papabile—cardinals considered contenders for the papacy—were many prelates from outside the Roman Church’s traditional European base. Sure enough, Cardinal Memberti’s announcement of Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV was an historic first—but not because the new pope hailed from the “margins” so favored by Pope Francis. The election of a Chicagoan to the chair of St. Peter is even more improbable. And it says as much about the changes in the country of the new Holy Father’s birth as it does the Church he now leads.