May 13, 2025 // Bishop

Local Catholics React to First American Pope

Clare Hildebrandt

Reporter

The election of Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8, left Catholics around the world with mouths agape in shock at the news that an American, hailing from Chicago, was elected as the head of the Church.

Today’s Catholic asked local Catholics in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to share their reactions to the news.

“I was very excited, waiting for the white smoke and then the announcement, ‘habemus papam,’” Sister Maria Gemma Salyer, dean of students at the University of Saint Francis, told Today’s Catholic. “That only happens a handful of times in your life, so it makes everything else stand still. … I had never heard of Cardinal Prevost, and his name was not one of the American Cardinals that I was familiar with.”

Sister Maria Gemma added: “I’ve grown up hearing, ‘There will never be an American pope.’ To have a pope who was born in America is almost unbelievable, and to know that he is from Chicago, a city close by and one I have visited many times, makes it feel even more personal and approachable.”

Sister Maria Gemma recalled the times she visited the former homes of popes and saints in Europe. Now, Chicago may become a pilgrimage destination.

“To think that someday people will be visiting Chicago to see the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV makes it feel surreal,” Sister Maria Gemma told Today’s Catholic. “It’s entirely new, and I hope his papacy will bring new life to the American Church and revitalize the hope that lays dormant in many.”

As the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart rang throughout the campus of Notre Dame in honor of the new pope, Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd, president of the University of Notre Dame, issued the following congratulatory statement: “The Notre Dame community joins with the Church worldwide in giving thanks and rejoicing in the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope,” he said. “We celebrate his work as a tireless missionary who has never hesitated to cross borders to announce the Gospel. A leader of vision, humility, and energy, he has inspired us with his compassion, generosity, and love for the people of God. As he begins his pontificate, we pray that Pope Leo will always be blessed with the wisdom, courage, and fortitude he will need.”

Father Dowd celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving at the basilica on the evening of Pope Leo’s election. In his homily, he said: “We hear about the missionary activity of the Church, about the apostles who suddenly became courageous after the Resurrection and put their own lives on the line,” Father Dowd told the faithful in attendance. “It is fitting here that we pray for a pope who has served for most of his life as a missionary and has crossed borders to serve the poor at great cost to himself. It is fitting that we gather here to pray for him and to be reminded of the missionary aspect of our Church. When he spoke earlier, that is what he said: We need to be a missionary Church. We need to move beyond the familiar. We have to move beyond our comfort zones to proclaim the love of God.”

Alex Giltner, director of the Office of Catechesis for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, told Today’s Catholic he was stunned when he heard the news.

“To be honest, I was completely shocked,” he said. “I honestly thought that it would be so unlikely that I would see an American pope in my lifetime.”

Giltner hopes the new pope will bring unity to the Church.

“Pope Leo XIV’s first words were of peace and unity,” Giltner said. “This is a message the Church really needs right now. I also appreciate both his words at his election and of his homily the morning after about what it means to preach the Gospel at this current moment in our world. I am hopeful for an era that is enlivened by a unified, mission-focused effort to evangelize the world,” he said.

Dr. Marco Clark, president of Holy Cross College, also shared his hopes for the new papacy, particularly for a missionary spirit in the Church.

“The conclave of cardinals, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has discerned a humble shepherd to lead us in this new chapter of faith and service,” Clark said. “Pope Leo XIV spoke about the need to be missionaries in this world and to build bridges through dialogue, just as his predecessor Pope Francis emphasized. The world needs more benevolence, and our new pope is calling us to do the same. What a joyful vocation for us all to build God’s kingdom,” he said in a statement.

Monsignor Michael Heintz, pastor at St. Pius X in Granger, was struck by the election of a young pope.

“It strikes me that the election of Cardinal Prevost to the see of Peter is a sign of the vitality of the Church. He is younger (compared to his two predecessors), American, an Augustinian, and also, like Francis, a bishop from South America.”

In the end, according to Monsignor Heintz, the American pope incorporates the old and the new.   

“The prognosticators were once again surprised by the (rather quick) election of the man from the Midwest, who no doubt promises strong continuities with his predecessor and also looks, by his choice of name (last chosen in 1879), to bring something new as well,” he said.

Clare Hildebrandt is a staff writer for Today’s Catholic.