Speakers enthusiastically sang songs such as Born In The USA and American Pie as six cardinal electors from the United States gathered in Rome to discuss the election of the first American-born pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost.
“I looked at Bob, he had his head in his hands, and I was praying for him,” Cardinal Joseph Tobin said, recalling the moment immediately after his voice in the Sistine Chapel.
“And then when he agreed, it was like it was meant just for him.”
The day after Chicago-born Cardinal Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, cardinals gathered on a stage draped with the Stars and Stripes and the Vatican flag at the Pontifical North American College.
The hilltop school for American seminarians is just a few minutes' walk from St. Peter's Basilica, where Leo gave his first speech to the world on Thursday night as the new leader of the Catholic Church's 1.4 billion worldwide faithful.
The United States had 10 voting cardinals in the conclave, the second-largest number of any country.
Four of them currently serve as archbishops in the United States: Cardinal 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 was a true missionary in his life in every way,” Cardinal McElroy noted.
They were joined by retired Archbishops Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas, and Wilton Gregory of Washington, and French Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
