Lansing Update: Our New Pope Leo XIV: Born in America, Studied in West Michigan

On Thursday, the Church and the entire world greeted the new Pope Leo XIV for the first time as he emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, after the College of Cardinals elected him on just the second day of voting in the conclave to replace Pope Francis.

As MCC President and CEO Paul Long remarked in his statement, the election of any new pope is a “source of joy and excitement for Catholics and indeed all people of goodwill in Michigan and across the globe.”

The entire world stood waiting as the cardinals conducted the conclave, with billions now able to watch the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel via livestream videos to see for themselves when the white smoke rises.

However, it is fair to say the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is particularly exciting for us as American Catholics, as he becomes the first American-born pope to ever ascend to the Chair of St. Peter, having been born in Chicago and attending Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Many American Catholics may relate with Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger when he said in his statement that “I must humbly acknowledge that I did not anticipate a United States citizen would be elected Pope.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in their statement that “Certainly, we rejoice that a son of this Nation has been chosen by the cardinals, but we recognize that he now belongs to all Catholics and to all people of good will.”

But perhaps even more exciting for Michiganders is the fact that the new pope also has a direct connection to our state, having studied at the former St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland in the 1970s as he discerned his vocation to the Order of St. Augustine, graduating in 1973.

As Detroit Catholic put it in an article about Pope Leo’s Michigan connection, “The new Roman pontiff attended high school in western Michigan. For Catholics from the Great Lakes state, that sentence might take a while to sink in.”

Bishop Edward Lohse of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, where the former seminary building attended by the new Successor to St. Peter is located, proudly noted in his statement that, “Our new Holy Father, the first American to be elected pope, is no stranger to the Diocese of Kalamazoo as he spent his high school years here in minor seminary.”

Join us in praying for the new pontificate of Leo XIV, and for the Church throughout the world, as a new chapter begins in the missionary journey of the Church to sanctify the world, which was entrusted by Our Lord to St. Peter and his line of successors.

For more on Pope Leo XIV, see his biography at Vatican News.

For the text of the Holy Father’s first address to the world, see this transcript from Detroit Catholic.