The 267th Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, is an American: Robert Cardinal Prevost, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He’s taken Leo XIV as his papal name.

     Our new pope was born in Chicago in 1955. He’s spent considerable time both in Vatican circles and in Third World service: specifically Peru. He’s a high Augustinian scholar and a Doctor of Canon Law, which is a very good sign for the resumption of Catholic doctrinal soundness.

     It will be some time before Catholics become well acquainted with their new Holy Father, but one thing is already evident: My fiction about Pope Clement XV, originally Gerard Cardinal O’Rourke, Archbishop of New York born in Queens, “the first American pope” in my fictional universe, has been obsoleted! Now what’ll I do?!

     May God guard and guide our new Holy Father, Leo XIV.