ROME - The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

Although the Pope—formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—has presided over his first service for the cardinals, the formal papal inauguration Mass is still more tha

Pope Leo XIV took his first trip outside the Vatican on Saturday, heading about an hour's drive east of Rome to the small Italian town of Genazzano to visit a shrine to the Virgin Mary. The new pontiff arrived for the unannounced visit in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen vehicle and was greeted to cheers from crowds gathered outside the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Just days after making history as the first American Pope, Illinois native Pope Leo XIV is preparing for a reunion with his siblings in Rome, where his brother John Prevost will join him to celebrate this unprecedented moment for the Catholic Church and Chicago alike.