The white smoke wasted Thursday from Sistine Chapel marks the choice of a new pope - the first time in the United States.

Thousands of miles away in Illinois, this ecstasy feeling greeted the man formerly known as Robert Prevost, who now finds himself in one of the world's worst and most powerful positions, when acute turbulence was .

"I was cut down, clumsy, surprised," said Mark Piper, a parishioner at St. Barnabas Church on the south side of Chicago. "I didn't expect the American pope."

“The fact that he comes from Chicago is absolutely a sense of pride,” said the pope, the pastor of St. Andrew’s Parish Father Sergio Romo, who was born and raised in the third largest city in the United States.

“Before arriving at the meeting, people would ask, ‘What is the opportunity for the American pope?’ I conveyed the wisdom of tradition, that’s a very slim possibility,” he said. “A lot of people are calling me and saying, ‘Oh, you’re wrong!’”

Prevost's name has been circulating in recent weeks as a compromise candidate for inheriting Pope Francis, but the betting market makes the Chicago man's chances less than 1%.

Pope Leo Xiv is known to face a challenging ferry, including the Vatican’s unstable finances and demands to protect children from priest sexual abuse.

He also has to guide the church through President Donald Trump’s geopolitical turmoil in his homeland we originate from his homeland.

For decades, the Vatican has viewed the United States as an ally to uphold religious freedom in more authoritarian regions and to uphold liberal global order. However, Trump's unpredictability has caused anxiety in the Holy See.

The Cardinal chose a leader who, while ideologically aligned with his predecessor Francis’ relatively progressive worldview, could face the U.S. president.

"Once, we needed to have a pope that favors human rights in Russia and China," said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University. "You need someone now who can tell the truth about American power."

Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost carved a career in church shortly after leaving school. He studied mathematics in Villanova before joining the St Augustine Order and was appointed a priest at the age of 26.

He grew up in Peru, where he worked in the Archdiocese of Trugilo for more than a decade. Prevost raised the ranks of a local church whose bishops were split among the leftists, were heavily influenced by Latin American liberation theology and closely linked to Opus dei Arch conservatives.

Prevost returned to Peru from 2015 to 2023. "A loyal man accompanied their bishop and shared his faith," he said in his first speech as the pope on Thursday.

"He chose to be one of us, live among us, and cheer up the faith, culture and dreams of this country," Peruvian President Dina Boluarte said in a televised speech on Thursday.

Prevost attracted the attention of Pope Francis, who appointed him as bishop in 2015 and quickly promoted him. The Pope of Argentina summoned him to Rome in 2023 to take charge of strong appointments - a work that allowed him to build a network of Catholic leadership across the globe.

However, Prevost was surprised to raise the church’s highest work – and the world’s 1.4 billion Catholic leaders, which allowed onlookers to try to master his core beliefs and look for clues to his leadership style.

His choice of Leo's name suggests that Prevost will continue with the progressive attitude of his predecessor. Pope Lion in the early 20th century Revolutionary Classic letters are often considered the first step in the Catholic Church's gradual acceptance of political modernity and include Christian defense of workers' rights.

"He goes back to 1900 and picked Leo XIII," said Greg Pierce, a publisher of Acta, Chicago. "This will send a message to Donald Trump and his friends... This pope will not go back to the old ways."

However, the new pope was also a member of the Augustinian Order, which tended to embrace traditional theological views.

David Deane teaches Christianity at the Atlantic Theology College in Halifax, Canada.

“For one thing, he is a critic of Trump and (U.S. Vice President JD) and his immigration. He is a defender of minorities, a supporter of the way, and the environment. But he is also against female deacons and pastors, who is the hard work of abortion, opposite to abortion and opposite to “genderology.”

John Allen Jr, editor of independent Catholic news website Crux, said the new pope would have a rope to walk between the "Magka" Catholics who defended Catholic social teaching and maintained Washington and its influence.

Allen said Pope Leo will have to "navigate" in his values ​​"clearly defending" without damaging relations with the U.S. government.

"If you want to do anything, you have to work with them," he added. "It will be an extraordinary delicate balance."

Other reports from Guy Chazan in Washington, James Fontanella-khan of New York and Joe Daniels of Bogota