A lifelong Catholic who has lived through six pontiffs, Gail Fennessey never thought she’d live to see someone from the U.S. lead the Catholic Church.

But Fennessey feels quite secure about the leadership of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, who was elected Thursday. And she’s excited.

“When we heard his credentials, I mean it was a no-brainer,” Fennessey said, adding that Pope Leo’s missionary work “shows he has a better view of the world.”

Fennessey was one of nearly 70 people who filled the brick-and-limestone walls of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen for Mass on Thursday evening, hours after Pope Leo was announced as the 267th pontiff.

Pope Leo, born as Robert Francis Prevost, is the first person from the United States to be elected pope and only the second person from the Western Hemisphere.

Catholics and other officials in Maryland celebrated the news. Archbishop William Lori said in a statement he’s met Leo “on several occasions” and described the new pope as “a true missionary.”

“He is prayerful, reflective, and a good listener, with a missionary heart,” Lori said in a statement.

Gold bunting was draped over the entrance to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore Thursday evening, as Catholics gathered for a Thanksgiving Mass to celebrate the new Pope.

Though many were not expecting a pope from the United States, “evidently, the Holy Spirit was,” Lori said before the congregation gathered Thursday.

Lori said he has met Pope Leo, and knows him to be a smart, intuitive and compassionate person who is a great missionary and listener.

“He loves our country, he understands our culture, but he has a global view,” Lori said. “I think he’s exactly what our church needs.”

In a post on social media, Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman — who is Catholic — congratulated Pope Leo and said she was praying that “he is successful in bringing people of all faiths together to work for a more just & peaceful world.”

The Rev. William Gohl, bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, joined Catholics in rejoicing and extended his prayers and good wishes to Pope Leo.

The ELCA is a progressive denomination, and Gohl said the synod would continue to pray for healing over division.

“May the new Pope be strengthened in the work of reconciliation and serving among the marginalized championed by his blessed predecessor,” Gohl wrote in an email.

‘It’s something our world needs’

Maryland is home to a large Catholic seminary at Mount St. Mary’s University in Frederick County. The school’s president, Gerard Joyce, grew up attending an Augustinian parish in Philadelphia. Joyce said that with 157 enrolled seminarians, The Mount has the highest enrollment of any Catholic seminary in the United States.

He, like many others, thought the conclave electing a pope from the U.S. was, at best, “a long shot.” But, given Leo’s background, he may be just what the Catholic Church needs at this moment, Joyce said.

From what he knows of the Augustinians, and what he’s been able to read about Pope Leo’s background, Joyce said he gets the sense the new pope is all about “Solidarity, bringing people together, and taking care of people. I think it’s something our world needs.”

Joyce also said that there is, of course, an open invitation for Pope Leo to visit the seminary at Mount Saint Mary’s.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who grew up in Baltimore, celebrated Pope Leo’s selection on social media.

She noted that the previous Pope Leo, Leo XIII, prioritized the working class.

For some Black Catholics in Baltimore, there’s hope that the appointment of a U.S. pope will bring new compassion and understanding to a cause they’ve been pushing for over the last few years.

“I think he’ll be a bit more sensitive to the fact that there are no [American] Black Catholic saints in history,” said Ralph Moore, a longtime parishioner of St. Ann’s Catholic Church, which closed after the rollout of an Archdiocese of Baltimore’s restructuring plan in 2024.

For several years, Moore and a committee of other parishioners have been pushing to have the “Saintly Six,” a half-dozen Black Catholics, to be canonized, which is the process of becoming a saint.

Mother Mary Lange, one of the Saintly Six, is a local namesake who was one of the founders of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious order for African American women that’s based in Baltimore.

In October 2023, Moore and committee members went to Rome to plead their case about the Saintly Six to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which recommends candidates for sainthood to the pope.

They emphasized the racism, segregation and silence many devout Black Catholics have historically endured within the church. Before St. Ann’s closed, the committee had over 4,000 letters signed from supporters across the world advocating for their canonization.

Moore also sent messages to the late Pope Francis every day, but they never received a direct response from him about the Saintly Six, Moore said.

Moore added that even though it may be challenging to get in touch, he plans to try to get the Saintly Six on Pope Leo’s radar.

In an emailed statement, Bill McCarthy, the executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, said he was very excited by the election of Pope Leo, and called his selection “truly the Holy Spirit at work.”

McCarthy said Pope Leo modeled “active” Catholic faith with his work in Peru.

“I hope and believe that Pope Leo will remind us that we are all made in the likeness and image of Christ and we should cherish the Divine in all people,” McCarthy wrote.

This story has been updated to reflect that any of the Saintly Six would be the first American Black saint.