Leo XIV celebrated ... Thursday became the 267th pope, spiritual head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and successor to Argentina's Pope Francis, after a secret conclave by his fellow cardinals in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. "The American pope ...

On Friday, Pope Leo XIV presided over his first mass as Pope for Cardinals at the Sistine Chapel.

A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself. In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago’s pizza and more loaded than its hot dog.

The temporary chimney atop the Sistine Chapel released a plume of white smoke on Thursday evening local time, signaling that the 133 cardinals working inside had reached a two-thirds majority to elect a new pope for the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV has plenty to say about his home country. The first-ever American pope was elected to lead the Catholic church on May 8. On Monday, May 12, the Chicago-born pontiff — previously known as Cardinal Robert Prevost — made an appearance at the Vatican where he offered a cryptic answer to one reporter’s question.