I met the man who would become Pope Leo XIV in October 2023. We were standing outside the Vatican’s Synod Hall, and from my short conversation with Cardinal Robert Prevost, I could tell he was a good listener,

White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney in Vatican City Thursday as the world gathered to watch a new pope take the helm of the Roman Catholic Church. The man who emerged was a surprise to many and a historical first for the faith: Pope Leo XIV will be the first American pope.

The historic election of Pope Leo XIV as the first U.S.-born pope is already upending an earlier calculus about U.S. conservative opposition to reform.