SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A remarkable week for the Catholic Church. Cardinals meeting at the Vatican elected a new pope. And he's from the U.S., specifically Chicago - Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost. And now some of the other U.S. cardinals who voted in the conclave are talking about the election. Joining us from Rome is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Jason, thanks for being with us.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Good morning.
SIMON: And how are U.S. cardinals responding to - if I might put it this way - another American being pope?
DEROSE: Well, they're downplaying the fact that he is an American. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop emeritus of Galveston-Houston, put it this way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DANIEL DINARDO: He's really a citizen of the entire world, since he has spent so much of his life, ministry, missionary work and zeal for Christ in South America.
DEROSE: And Leo really does have an international resume - ministry in Peru as a pastor, bishop and archbishop, and at the Vatican in high-level church administration. But then Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, had a more spiritual take on where the pope is from.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TIMOTHY DOLAN: He reminds us that we all have our true citizenship in heaven, as St. Paul taught us. And that is his role as universal pastor. Where he comes from is sort of now a thing of the past.
DEROSE: And he makes the point that Cardinal Prevost was a son of Chicago, but Pope Leo is a leader for every Catholic everywhere.
SIMON: And, Jason, how are U.S. cardinals talking about what it was like in the conclave?
DEROSE: Well, I think it's important for secular society to understand that this is far more than a political election for cardinals, though we sometimes talk about it that way, right? Who's up? Who's down? Who's the front-runner? Joseph, Cardinal Tobin of Newark, says the electors were focused on more profound questions than who and from where.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOSEPH TOBIN: What does the church need? What's the world need? What are we hoping for? What are we dreaming about? So is darkness followed by expectation.
SIMON: And, Jason, is there a sense among the U.S. cardinals that expectations were met?
DEROSE: Met and exceeded, Scott. And not just for the church, with all its problems - right? - financial problems, sex abuse, falling numbers, internal tensions over doctrine. Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago described the experience as raising expectations beyond the church.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BLASE CUPICH: I hope that's a signal to the world that we can reach across our differences in culture and language, country, nationality and work together to solve the problems that are there - that we have the opportunity to reconcile and have peace.
DEROSE: And understanding, Scott, that the church exists for the life of the world.
SIMON: Finally, Jason, did you have a sense that these U.S. cardinals will feel a special connection to the pope from America?
DEROSE: Well, I think just as special a connection as any cardinal feels to the pope, but certainly one informed by common experiences, especially the common experience of having been raised Catholic in America. And Catholic in America, given the age of many of the cardinals, when that was perhaps something suspicious or even not fully American. Here's how Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop emeritus of Washington, described that relationship.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WILTON GREGORY: I felt comfortable saying to Pope Leo, from one southsider of Chicago to another - I promise you my respect, my fidelity and my love.
DEROSE: A respect, fidelity and love, Scott, that many, many Catholics feel toward the pope, whether from the U.S. or from elsewhere.
SIMON: NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose in Rome. Thanks so much.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
