On May 8, 2025 white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel, signaling to the world that a new pope had been elected. On the fourth ballot of the conclave, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV—the 267th successor of St. Peter and the first pope from the United States. For many years, people had said an American pope was impossible. Yet on that day, impossibility became reality. I was overjoyed by Pope Leo’s election. As …
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