‘Great joy and great excitement‘: Northern Illinois Catholic leaders welcome 1st American pope

The leaders of local Catholic dioceses rejoiced after a Chicago native was elected the first American pope in the Roman Catholic Church’s more than 2,000-year history.

“As we anticipated the name as the smoke turned white, we were filled with great joy and hope,” Bishop Ronald A. Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet said in a written statement.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, now Pope Leo XIV, is a member of the Augustinian religious order and once was head of the Midwest Augustinian community based in Chicago.

In the 1980s, he lived at the friary on the campus of Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, an Augustinian school, for one year, said Allie Rios, director of communications for Providence Catholic High School.

As a cardinal in 2023, the new pontiff was called to Rome to be Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a powerful office within the Vatican structure.

Bishop Larry Sullivan vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago, said in a livestreamed news conference Thursday afternoon the election of Chicago-born People Leo XIV was “a day of great excitement for the Church” and a cause of “great joy and great excitement” for Chicago residents that “one of our own” was elected as the new pope.

Sullivan said he believes that Pope Leo XIV will serve with great faith, and although he’s never met the new pope, people have spoken very highly of him.

“He’s very humble, a very kind person and someone who really does look to the Lord for guidance in all that he does,” Sullivan said. “He’s a very prayerful and spiritual man that takes that sense of God’s love and does whatever he can to care for all of God’s children, to care for all of us.”

Louis Tylka, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, expressed prayers in a written statement that the new pope would bring Christ to “a world so in need of healing, truth and peace.”

“As the People of God, we pledge our support and fidelity to Pope Leo XIV as the Successor of Peter,” Tylka said in the written statement. “United with the universal Church, we are ready to walk in faith alongside our new Holy Father, trusting in God’s providence and grace.”

In a written statement, Bishop David J. Malloy of the Diocese of Rockford extended “a joyful and prayer-filled welcome” to Pope Leo XIV on behalf of “more than 400,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Rockford.”

Malloy expressed confidence that the “new spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics” will labor for “peace and unity” among Catholics and non-Catholics and bring the “timeless message of God’s saving mercy and love to all.”

“I know that, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he will work tirelessly to strengthen the faith and unite us, and he will strive to serve all people of the world with dignity, respect and love,” Malloy said in the statement and later added, “As bishop I look forward to the guidance and encouragement of our new pontiff in our common mission of living and witnessing to our Catholic faith in this diocese and beyond.”

Malloy will celebrate a special Mass for the intention of Pope Leo XIV at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rockford. All priests of the diocese and the public are invited to celebrate the Mass.

The Mass will be livestreamed on the Diocese of Rockford Facebook and Diocese of Rockford YouTube channels.

Hicks plans to offer a Mass for Pope Leo XIV at 8 a.m. Friday at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet. The community is invited to attend.

The Mass also will be livestreamed on the Diocese of Joliet YouTube page.

“We will learn more about him in the days to come. Meanwhile, join me in praying for Pope Leo XIV, the entire church, and the world as we say thank you to God and come Holy Spirit,” Hicks said. “I also encourage you to join your local parishes and pray for our new pope at Mass, thanking God for him and asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide him as he begins his papacy.”