It has long been an unwritten rule of the Catholic Church that no citizen of a world superpower can be pope. The informal logic is that such an arrangement would risk putting preeminent temporal and spiritual authority into the hands of the same clan.

ROME — The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

Ever since an American Pope was chosen, the Catholic world has been elated. After Pope Francis’ demise, the new pope was selected by the cardinal electors. On May 8th, Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowd from the balcony of the chapel as people came to greet him.