PHILADELPHIA -- It was afternoon at the convent, and that meant bingo.

A dozen elderly women, some in wheelchairs, others with their walkers pushed aside, studied the triplets of cards in front of them. A life-size cardboard cutout of Pope Francis, newly deceased, waved beneficently down at them.

“Call the right numbers!” joked Sister ...Read more

Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and took over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church. Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV.

In his first words as ...Read more

At a small Catholic elementary school on the south side of Chicago, Michael Winters and Robert Prevost would run in circles on the hot cement during recess.

Even back in 1961, while attending St. Mary of the Assumption School, Prevost — who took the name Leo XIV after becoming the first American elected pope — seemed destined for the role. ...Read more

CHICAGO — Above the door of the church in the last blocks of Chicago, the Virgin Mary still stands with her arms wide open.

The double doors beneath the statue’s feet are shut, but a disintegrating wooden side door swings freely, leading to a set of stairs with chipped paint scattered on them. Above, a pool of blue light from a stained-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In the summer of 1973, the war was still raging in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal was unfolding in Washington, and protests roiled college campuses nationwide. But at leafy Villanova University just outside Philadelphia, trouble was on the home front.

The staid Catholic institution on the Main Line stood at a cultural ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — As Philadelphians and Catholics rejoiced at the announcement of the new pope, with his ties to Villanova University, among local Filipinos, there was some disappointment.

The election of Pope Leo XIV meant Filipino cardinals who had been front-runners in the papal process would not ascend to the Catholic Church’s highest post...Read more

CHICAGO — Almost immediately after the Chicago Tribune published an article Thursday mentioning that the newly elected Pope Leo XIV had dined with old friends at Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood months prior, Joe Aurelio said his friends, family — and what eventually felt like the whole country — started chiming in.

“The world’s calling...Read more

How the first American pope will interact with the president of his homeland remains to be seen, but a few posts on social media might provide a clue.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is also known on the social media site X as @drprevost, where he has occasionally weighed in with reposts on issues of faith and politics — including ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A more than century-old San Diego Jesuit parish has joined other churches and a farmworker organization across the country in a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s willingness to bring its immigration crackdown into so-called “sensitive locations.”

“I feel like the only effective tool with this ...Read more

ROME — Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first mass as pontiff Friday after his historic appointment as the first American to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

His elevation puts another U.S. voice on the world stage, but the new pope’s relationship with his home country may not be simple. His past pronouncements as a cardinal and ...Read more

ROME — Pope Leo XIV celebrates his first mass as pontiff Friday after his historic appointment as the first American to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

His elevation puts another U.S. voice on the world stage, but the new pope’s relationship with his home country may not be simple. His past pronouncements as a cardinal and ...Read more

At the end of March, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about religious freedom. In late April, it heard two more. By summer, the Court could decide to give religious employers another tax break, let religious parents excuse their children from classes that mention queer people, and give religious charter schools access to public ...Read more

On Thursday, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was introduced to the world as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and the first American pope, taking the name Leo XIV.

For Catholic theologians, the significance of the name could not be more clear, with the new pope tying himself to one of the foundational figures of modern Catholic social ...Read more

WASHINGTON — When the white smoke began drifting from the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman clued the former speaker in on the news.

“I have never heard her more excited about anything,” Ian Krager later wrote on X.

The famously Catholic Pelosi is one of more than 150 Catholics serving in the 119th Congress, a ...Read more

Pope Leo XIV, who was known as Cardinal Robert Prevost before becoming the first American selected to lead the Catholic Church on Thursday, has reposted online content critical of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on immigration and religious issues.

A Chicago native and Villanova University graduate, Leo XIV speaks English, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Catholics across the region are celebrating the historic announcement that the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the church was born and raised in the Chicago area.

In his first words as Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost announced “peace be with you,” invoking a message of dialogue and care for those in need ...Read more

President Donald Trump Thursday congratulated Pope Leo XIV, calling it a “great honor” that the Chicago-born pontiff has become the first pope born in the U.S.

“It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country.”

Trump ...Read more

ROME — Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Roman Catholic pontiff, the first ever pope from the United States and a possible bridge between the moderate and hard-line sides of a divided Church.

Prevost, 69, chose the name of Leo XIV for his pontificate and was greeted by thousands of cheering faithful as he stepped out onto a ...Read more