Following the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff elected from the U.S., American cardinals shared their reaction to the new leader of the church.

Robert Prevost, the latest — and first American — pope was raised in the Chicago area, where his childhood home was recently for sale, but the listing was pulled the day the Vatican decided

P olitical figures around the world have congratulated Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, after his election on Thursday, May 8, as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Hailing from Chicago and a dual U.S.-Peru national, Prevost is the first North American Pope and second from the Americas, after his late predecessor Francis.