Catholics across the world watched the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, waiting for the conclave to elect a new pope.

Father Richard Kunst of St. James Parish in Duluth was one of many at the Vatican this week, hoping to witness the white smoke in person.

“I was there for the first smoke,” said Kunst. “It was a great experience. The timing was pretty bad for me because I literally landed in Detroit when he got elected.”

Others waited for the smoke to be shown on TV, including students at Stella Maris Academy.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the first one because I would have been like six, so this is really cool. Just to watch the procession happen, I was all in English class, and we were like, “Oh my goodness,” and we all stopped class for it,” said eleventh grader Annabel Hanson. “I hope that everybody who watched it had the same experience that our whole school had today. We all sat during lunch together, we all cheered them on, we all prayed, we cried, we laughed. We just had a really great time today.”

At approximately 11:08 am Central Time, white smoke signaled the election of a new pope. Cardinal Robert Prevost was chosen. This came as a surprise for many, including Bishop Daniel Felton of the Diocese of Duluth.

“Some people wrote about him, but he certainly hadn’t been a whole lot in the news cycle,” said the Bishop. “I think it’s just a beautiful, great Pope and will be a great Pope for us in the future as well.”

This is the first time an American has become pontiff in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history.

“I mean, I was kind of a people history or historian. I’ve always said that they’ll never be an American Pope. Not as long as the United States is a superpower, there will not be an American Pope,” said Father Kunst. “Crazy, crazy. Nobody would have ever thought this.”

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“I’m just really excited because it’s an American Pope and we get to experience him coming in and being a new, fresh leader for the church. I just really want to see what he does and how he brings a new hope to the church, and how we can grow,” said tenth grader Krista Altonen.

The new Pope decided to be called Pope Leo XIV.

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“The tradition would be that you change your name because really the role that you are going to play is just a change of person. You are your person, but now you become that which you’ve been called to,” explained Bishop Felton. “Pope Leo XIII was known for being very much attached to social justice teachings of the church, a great concern for the marginal and poor, and certainly that fits into line with Pope Francis and now with Pope Leo XIV as well.”

Pope Leo XIV was made a Bishop and then a Cardinal by Pope Francis. Many wonder if he will follow in the late Pope’s footsteps. Father Kunst says that historically speaking, “we always see pendulum movements” from the election of one Pope to the next.

“I totally expect this to be a pendulum swing more in the centrist level, not going to the right and not staying on the left, but to the centrist level,” theorized Father Kunst. “Just because Pope Francis named him a Cardinal doesn’t mean that he’s cut from the same cloth.”

Bishop Felton, on the other hand, believes there might be similarities.

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“He belonged to a religious order, the Augustinians. He is a missionary, and even though he is from Chicago in the United States, he spent a lot of time in Peru and Latin America, which also would have been very much akin to Pope Francis,” said Bishop Felton. “There are a lot of things that we’ll see him doing that reflect his relationship with Pope Francis, but each pope is their own person, and I’m sure he’ll bring his own gifts and talents and blessings to bear as well.”