As 'Born In The U.S.A.' Plays, American Cardinals In Rome Celebrate Pope Leo XIV

“The fact that he was born in the United States of America, boy, that’s a sense of pride and gratitude for us,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

ROME (AP) — Speakers blasted songs including “Born in the U.S.A.” and “American Pie” as six cardinal electors from the United States gathered in Rome on Friday to share their thoughts on the election of the first U.S.-born pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost.

“I took a look at Bob ... and he had his head in his hands and I was praying for him, because I couldn’t imagine what happens to a human being when you’re facing something like that,” said Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, of the moment right after casting his vote in the Sistine Chapel. “And then when he accepted, it was like it was made for him.”

One day after the Chicago-born Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, the cardinals met on a stage decorated with the Stars and Stripes and a Vatican flag at the Pontifical North American College. The hilltop institution for U.S. seminarians is a short walk from St. Peter’s Basilica, where Leo made his first speech to the world on Thursday evening as the new leader of the Catholic Church’s global faithful of 1.4 billion people.

The cardinals highlighted how his American nationality wasn’t a deciding factor, especially in the most geographically diverse conclave in history, though many rejoiced in it.

“The fact that he was born in the United States of America, boy, that’s a sense of pride and gratitude for us,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said.