A day after the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff of the United States, seven American cardinals sat with journalists on Friday to talk about the native of Chicago that now leads the Roman Catholic Church and how will follow the steps of Pope Francis, but not as a “photocopy.”
The cardinals who gathered: Daniel Dinardo, Timothy Dolan, Joseph Tobin, Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Robert Mcelroy and Christophe Pierre, agreed that all the members of the clergy worked effectively to choose a pontiff that would follow Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
“It was an incredible opportunity to see such a diverse assembly of humanity from many different perspectives, facing many different challenges, but gathering for a common purpose to find Peter’s successor, and I think we did well,” said Gregory, the Washington emeritus archbishop, during the press conference in the Pontifical College North American in Rome.
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Several of the cardinals admitted that they were surprised to select an American, including Robert Mcelroy, Archbishop of Washington, who “always thought it would be impossible.”
Cardinals Daniel Dinardo, Timothy Dolan, Joseph Tobin, Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Robert Mcelroy and Christophe Pierre attend a press conference at the pontificate North American College in Rome, Italy, May 9, 2025.
Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters
But Dollan, the New York Archbishop said he did not think that the fact that I read out of the United States “had a lot of weight” in the decision to choose it as the 267th leader of the Church.
He also suggested that Leo’s election was not a reaction to President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think my brother Cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to anyone,” he said.
Regarding the comments made previously by Cardinal Maung Bo, who said that Leo will “build a bridge” with Trump, Dolan said that the new pontiff “will build bridges with leaders of each nation.”
Dolan said that Leo’s possible meeting with Trump “would not be more weight” than conversations with other world leaders.
In general, Gregory, who agreed with Dollan’s suggestion that US politics had nothing to do with the decision to choose Leo, told journalists that the cardinals were trying to choose someone who could lead the Catholic Church and that these questions could answer: “
During the conclave itself, Gregory said that Leo participated in conversations with clergy members in “smaller groups”, specifically during meals and coffee breaks.
The American cardinal Timothy Dolan from New York and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark attend a press conference at the North American College in Rome, on May 9, 2025.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
“It was not as if he got up and made an overwhelmingly convincing speech that captivated the body,” Gregory said.
Cardinal Robert Mcelroy, Archbishop of Washington, said it was not the substance of what Leo said during the conclave, but the “way he said” what he resonated with the cardinals.
Tobin, Newark Archbishop, described a moment during the conclave, when he saw Leo, former Cardinal Robert Prevost, with “his head in his hands” after realizing that he could become Pope.
“I was praying for him, because he could not imagine what happens to a human being when you face something like that, and then, when he accepted it, it was as if they did,” Tobin said. “Everything that anguish was resolved by the feeling that, I think, that this was not simply his saying to a proposal, but God would make something clear.”
The clergy also noticed that Leo had Pope Benedict’s mind and Francis’s “missionary zeal” said. Similarly, Mcelroy said that Leo has the “same type of freedom that is in his heart and soul that was in Francisco”, but the new pontiff may not express that freedom in the same way.
The newly chosen Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass with the Cardinals College within the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican the day after his choice as 267 Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, May 9, 2025.
Simone Resoluti/Vatican Media through AP
“We are looking for someone to follow the way, but we are not looking for a photocopy,” Mcelroy said.
Gregory, who said he spoke with Leo during the conclave about how both are from Chicago, advised the world to give the new patience of the Pope as he grows in this role, joking that he has only been in this position for one day.
“Never before has it been Papa,” Gregory said. “Pope Leo will surprise us while bringing his gifts, confronts the challenges and responds in grace to the needs of the Church.”
