Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was named Thursday as the first ever American pope – and folks in the Windy City are having a blast over it. “From now on, all communion wafers shall be deep dish,

St. Mary of the Assumption Parish included this photo commemorating the 1982 meeting of a newly ordained Robert Prevost and Pope John Paul II in its 1986 book marking its 100th anniversary. Prevost and his family were devout and dedicated parishioners of the Far South Side church.

America has great economic culture, political power and military power, and [for an American] to be heading the Church too, seemed to me not likely.”

On the second day of the conclave at the Vatican, the cardinal electors chose Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope, Leo XIV.

Patrick Feltz, 28, of Villa Park, sports his homemade pope hat while waiting to enter Rate Field in Chicago for a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Marlins on May 10, 2025. It took Feltz 15 minutes to make the pope hat by following instructions from a Youtube video. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

The Catholic religious order's Chicago-based province released a statement about Robert Prevost, who this week became Pope Leo XIV, saying he was "always seeking to protect the innocent and offer healing to victims,

Six weeks before American Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, the activist group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a complaint against him, along with other church leaders,

The sports loyalties of Pope Leo XIV became a topic of conversation almost as soon as the white smoke emerged from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.