An amazing (and unexpected) experience.

This was my third papal conclave. The first was in 2005 using technology that seems quaint today. Pope Benedict XVI was elected on that cool April evening.

When he shocked the world and the Catholic Church by resigning the papacy - something that no pope had done since Gregory XII in 1415 - I returned in March 2013 to cover the conclave that elected Pope Francis.

All to say that by this, my third conclave, I considered myself to be somewhat expert on how it would all go. And I didn't really expect to be surprised.

For example, I wasn't a bit surprised when white smoke billowed out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel late on Thursday afternoon - the second day of the conclave.

After all, that's exactly what happened in 2005 and in 2013 when I was here. It also happened at the election of Pope John Paul in 1978.

Conclaves tend to move rather quickly in the modern era.

But it turned out that I was about to be gobsmacked.

To my delight, when the white smoke appeared, I was able to get a cell signal out despite a cellular grid that was overwhelmed on St. Peter's Square. I was on the air live on KTBB when Cardinal Dominque Mamberti announced - in Latin - the name of the new pope. Between being on the air and the hubbub of the square, I missed the name.

A few minutes later, I was able to get another cell call out and I was on the air with Jimmy Failla on FOX Across America. It was Jimmy who told me - as he was finding out himself - that the College of Cardinals had done the unimaginable. They had selected Cardinal Robert Prevost - an American - to be the new pope.

I was blown away. As recently as Wednesday afternoon I had gotten it on good authority that there was virtually no chance that an American would be elected to the papacy.

I have a great deal of respect for the expertise of Fr. Thomas Reese. He is the author of the book, “Inside the Vatican - the Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.” Just as I did at the two previous conclaves, I interviewed Father Reese this week and also I stood by as FOX News's Jonathan Savage interviewed him.

Here's what Father Reese had to say to Jonathan Savage about the possibility of an American pope.

Well, before the last conclave, I said there were two certitudes. There would never be an American pope and there would never be a Jesuit pope. So I was wrong then. I continue to say it's highly unlikely that there will be an American pope. The trouble is in the global south, in the streets, people would immediately conclude, oh, the CIA fixed the election or Wall Street bought the election. The Catholic Church doesn't need that. In addition historically, the Catholic Church has never given the papacy to a superpower, whether it was the Holy Roman Empire or whoever. The one time they did, they gave it to France and France took the papacy to Avignon. We don't want to go through that again. So, I think it's highly unlikely. However, all that said, there's a lot of buzz about Cardinal Prevost, an American who is head of the Dicastry for Bishops, which is the committee of cardinals that makes recommendations for bishops around the world. Well, all of the cardinals know him. And he has a background in Latin America. He's spent most of his ministry in Latin America. He's almost more Latin than American. So it's going to be…who knows what will happen.

As it turned out, nobody knew what would happen.

But just because Pope Leo XIV is a Chicago-born American, don't expect Super Bowl watch parties in the papal apartments. As Father Reese said, the new pope has spent much of his career in South America and his sensibilities are said to be so aligned.

But it is nevertheless remarkable that a countryman of mine is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion followers.

It is even more remarkable that I was here in Rome on St. Peter's Square when it happened.

I am grateful to Christus Health for again making it possible to bring this story to East Texas.

Published May 9, 2025 · Updated May 7, 2025

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