The election of a Chicago-born cardinal as the primary American pope on Thursday astonished Catholics and non-Catholics alike throughout the USA.
Some felt a burst of patriotic delight {that a} 2,000-year-old establishment had chosen its new chief, Leo XIV, from a rustic that’s about to have fun its 250th birthday. Others hoped that an American pope would possibly assist easy the rifts between the USA and its allies which have widened underneath President Trump.
“To have the primary American pope is one thing new and one thing recent,” mentioned Alex Freeman, a 33-year-old occasion planner from Atlanta. Ms. Freeman was raised Baptist however attends Catholic companies often at a traditionally Black Catholic church. “It’s a part of a brand new American narrative.”
Chicagoans, specifically, rejoiced on the information that the primary American pope was a local of their metropolis.
The Rev. William Lego, the pastor of St. Turibius Parish in Chicago, knew the brand new pope once they had been younger seminarians in Michigan. “I feel my classmate simply received it,” he mentioned, sounding surprised, from his workplace. “They picked a superb man.”
The Democratic political strategist David Axelrod, who as soon as helped get one other long-shot Chicago candidate elected to excessive workplace, sounded equally shocked. “Holy smokes!!” he wrote on social media. “An American pope! From Chicago!!”
However exterior the pope’s hometown, different Individuals mentioned that they had by no means heard of the pope till his identify was introduced in Latin from the St. Peter’s balcony.
“I didn’t even know there was a cardinal from the U.S. within the operating,” mentioned Danielle Charles, a 33-year-old insurance coverage skilled in San Antonio.
In Queens, Rosario Gonzales, a 72-year-old retired accountant and Filipino immigrant, she mentioned she didn’t have a desire for an American pope, including that his choice was “who the Lord most well-liked.”
“It doesn’t matter what nationality the pope is,” she mentioned. “He’s nonetheless my pope.”
Regardless of intently watching the information, she mentioned she didn’t know a lot in regards to the new pope and had solely heard his identify for the primary time at this time. Nonetheless, her first impression was optimistic. “He appears to be like the half,” she mentioned with amusing. “He’s pope-ish.”
Ms. Gonzales mentioned she hoped the brand new pope will proceed Pope Francis’ outreach to non-Catholics and his compassion for kids and migrants.
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