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The surprising election of the first American pope felt fraught and disorienting to Roman Catholics around the world, who had considered such an outcome unlikely and perhaps unwelcome \u2014 until Pope Leo XIV stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica and chose to speak a few sentences in Spanish.<\/p>\n
In an instant, the new pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, signaled that his identity would defy easy categorization. He chose in that pivotal moment on Thursday evening not to say anything in English or mention the United States. He seemed intent on conveying the message that he was not a typical American.<\/p>\n
It worked. Pope Leo, who was born in Chicago, has Creole heritage<\/a>, lived in Peru<\/a> for decades and speaks at least three languages, established himself as a citizen of the world. Catholics around the globe raced to claim pieces of his multicultural and multilingual background as their own.<\/p>\n \u201dHe considers himself American, but he also considers himself Peruvian,\u201d said Julia Caillet, a 33-year-old osteopath, who was in line outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for a special service for young Catholics celebrating the new pope on Friday evening. \u201cHe is a priest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At a time when President Trump has isolated the United States from its diplomatic allies and trade partners and upended much of the world order<\/a>, some Catholics worried that an American pontiff might somehow bring the Roman Catholic Church closer to the tumultuous American government.<\/p>\n Instead, Pope Leo appears to have reassured them, at least for now, that he would preserve the church as a global moral voice calling for peace and justice, especially for migrants, the poor and victims of war, in the mold of Pope Francis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He is described as more reserved and diplomatic than Francis. Yet Pope Leo\u2019s warm words for Peru, where he holds dual citizenship after having lived and worked there for more than 20 years, reminded Catholics of Francis, who was from Argentina.<\/p>\n The Vatican News called<\/a> Leo, 69, not the first pope from the United States, but the second pope \u201cfrom the Americas.\u201d And South Americans were quick to declare him theirs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe is more Peruvian than American,\u201d Cardinal Odilo Scherer of Brazil said in a news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n He and several other Brazilian cardinals batted away question after question about the new pope\u2019s nationality; one Brazilian reporter said an American pope had seemed taboo, because of the power of the United States.<\/p>\n It came as a relief to Araceli Torres Hallal, 64, a Catholic entrepreneur in Mexico City, to learn in the last few days that the new pope is not \u201cpurely American.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel threatened by them,\u201d she said of the United States. \u201cSo it would\u2019ve been a total disaster and a cold slap in the face if the pope had been full-on American.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mrs. Torres saw Pope Leo\u2019s experience as a bishop and a missionary in Peru for the Order of St. Augustine, and his 12 years leading the order worldwide, as crucial in shaping him as a pastor in touch with the needs of poor and vulnerable people. She said she expects him to serve as a counterweight to some of Mr. Trump\u2019s anti-migrant policies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Even calling Pope Leo \u201cAmerican\u201d has bothered those Latin Americans who resent the use of the word to describe someone from the United States, because they see it as a form of imperialism. They think \u201cAmerican\u201d should apply to anyone from the entire continent \u2014 that is, from North, Central or South America.<\/p>\n The 133 cardinals who elected Pope Leo in a two-day conclave were surely aware of the possible criticism they could face for choosing a pope from a superpower where about 80 percent of the people are not even Catholic \u2014 especially to succeed Francis, who focused on what he called the church\u2019s \u201cperipheries,\u201d far from Rome, and mostly in the global south.<\/p>\n Many of the cardinals in the conclave were named by Francis. They came from more countries than ever before<\/a> and shared his views, and yet elected an American anyway, in what they described as a deeply spiritual and fulfilling process.<\/p>\n Several cardinals said after conclave that Pope Leo\u2019s nationality hardly mattered.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, I don\u2019t think the country of origin is the determining factor,\u201d Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who was considered a top contender<\/a> going into the conclave, said in a news conference on Friday. \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s about the person who can truly serve the church.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the Philippines, many of the faithful had rooted for Cardinal Tagle, one of several potential contenders to become the first Asian pope. But some said they were already won over by Pope Leo.<\/p>\n Sister Mary John Mananzan, a Benedictine nun, superior and directress of St. Scholastica\u2019s Academy in the city of San Fernando in the Philippines, was encouraged by news that on social media, an account under Cardinal Prevost\u2019s name criticized Vice President JD Vance for trying to claim that Catholic teaching could be used to defend mass deportations of immigrants from the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough he has a gentle quality,\u201d she said of the new pope, \u201che has the integrity to be able to express his opinion when somebody is violating human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In Africa, where the church is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, Adelaide Ndilu said she gasped in surprise that the new pope was American. Then she danced with joy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Ndilu, 59, a producer and presenter with Radio Waumini, a national Catholic radio station in Kenya, said that she trusted Pope Leo because of his proficiency in several languages, years in Peru and Creole heritage<\/a>.<\/p>\n After he was elected, genealogists turned up records showing that his grandparents may have come from Haiti, the Dominican Republic<\/a> and France<\/a>.<\/p>\n She hoped that background would help him navigate the growing cultural and spiritual diversity among the church\u2019s members.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want a pope who can reach out to the peripheries and get the church out of its comfort zone,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want a pope for all the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Laurent Stalla-Bourdillon, a priest and theologian in the Diocese of Paris, said it seemed normal to him that the first American pope would have a very mixed heritage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor us, that\u2019s what America is: mixed, many origins, many generations of migration,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a melting pot.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, the most fundamental part of Pope Leo\u2019s identity may not be either his American or his Peruvian nationality, argued some members of the clergy and religious experts.<\/p>\n