Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, Other American Cardinals in Rome Celebrate Pope Leo XIV
From left, U.S. Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark, Timothy Dolan of NY, and Daniel Di Nardo, archbishop emeritus of Galveston Houston, attend a press conference at the North American College in Rome, Friday, May 9, 2025, one day after U.S. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV. (AP Photo / Gregorio Borgia)
ROME (AP) — Speakers blasted songs including “Born in the U.S.A.” and “American Pie” as six cardinal electors from the United States gathered in Rome on Friday to share their thoughts on the election of the first U.S.-born pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost.
“I took a look at Bob and he had his head in his hands and I was praying for him,” said Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the moment right after casting his vote in the Sistine Chapel. “And then when he accepted, it was like it was made for him.”
One day after the Chicago-born Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, the cardinals met on a stage decorated with the Stars and Stripes and a Vatican flag at the Pontifical North American College. The hilltop institution for U.S. seminarians is a short walk from St. Peter’s Basilica, where Leo made his first speech to the world on Thursday evening as the new leader of the Catholic Church’s 1.4 billion global faithful.
The United States had 10 voting cardinals in the conclave, the second-highest number of any country. Four of them currently serve as archbishops in the U.S.: Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; Timothy Dolan of New York; Blase Cupich of Chicago; and Robert McElroy of Washington.
“In a very real sense, Cardinal Prevost has been in his life at his core a real missionary, in every way,” McElroy said.
Cupich said cardinals were not looking for a replacement to Pope Francis, but a successor. The Chicago archbishop sees Pope Leo XIV’s unique experience as an asset.
“I believe that he will have a special platform given his experience living in the United States but also living in another country, a missionary country like Peru and also here in Rome,” Cupich said. “To have Catholics take a second like at the teaching of the church that have to do with social Gospel. Picking the name Leo is indicative, I think, of the direction he wants to take … He was a great reformer, he was the first modern pope that we’ve had … who wrote stirringly about the rights of workers, of immigrants, of those who were living at the margins of society … I think he will be able to put it in language that’s comprehensible and also challenging to Catholics in the United States. So that’s what I’m looking for, that’s the promise that we saw yesterday in the balcony and also the promise in the name that he chose.”
Joining them were retired archbishops Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston in Texas, and Wilton Gregory of Washington, as well as French Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Several of the men referred to the man they’ve known for years as Bob or Robert by his papal name, Leo. Others said that his American nationality wasn’t a factor — he also holds Peruvian citizenship.
Cardinals were most concerned with “who among us can bring us together, who among us can strengthen the faith and bring the faith to places where it has grown weak,” said Gregory.
