Following Pope Francis’s death on April 21 2025, there was high anticipation among MFS students regarding the next leader of the Catholic church.
On May 8, 2025, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the new Pope following Pope Francis’s death. Cardinal Prevost will now be known as Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIV is the first American Pope from Chicago, Illinois, and attended Villanova University. Pope Leo is 69 years old and has a lot of global experience, spending a lot of time in South America as a missionary and holding citizenship in Peru, where he served as a bishop.
Junior Matthew Conner ’26 said, “I’m not the most religious, and I really only found out about the new Pope because someone announced that the white smoke was coming out of the Vatican, indicating a new one was chosen.” Conner continued, “Even though I’m not religious, it was still cool to hear that Pope Leo was chosen because … he’s the first American Pope and even cooler that he’s actually from around here, as he went to Villanova … maybe he can visit us sometime.”
While some students like Conner learned about the new Pope after the announcement was made, others like Dean Simpson ’26 closely followed the event as it unfolded.
Simpson said, “The Pope didn’t come out onto the balcony until around 1 p.m. at lunch, and from the beginning of lunch until then, my friends and I were sitting on the senior benches trying to guess who the new one would be. I thought it was going to be Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle who, if elected, would’ve been the first Filipino Pope because that’s who a lot of people online were predicting.”
With the movie “Conclave” (2024), starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, gaining popularity over the past year, many MFS students have now become familiar with the centuries-old process of the Conclave. Now, this process they learned from the Oscar-nominated movie became reality as a new Pope had to be chosen following Pope Francis’s death.
Sophomore Charlie McFadden ’27 said, “I watched the movie ‘Conclave’ on the plane ride to [Intensive Learning] and it seems like their version of MFS’ NomCom, because they all have to stay in a room and sit and talk to decide a new Pope and can’t leave until one is chosen.”
McFadden continued, “One difference between the Conclave and NomCom besides one is choosing the new leader of the Catholic church and the other is choosing who the next clerks are going to be is that [the Conclave] actually can vote and need a two-thirds majority while the choices in NomCom are made through the Quaker Process; I’m actually really surprised they made such a big decision in under two days, it might show that the new Pope was a easy/great option.”
For others, the selection of the new Pope carried personal significance, rooted in cultural identity and family background.
Junior Sophia Lo Re ’26 said, “I’m very Italian, so me and my family were hoping that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is Italian, would be chosen [because] the last Italian Pope was Pope John Paul all the way back in 1978. None of us even remembers him, so at first, I was a little disappointed it wasn’t Parolin. But, I’m also American, so it was also exciting to see that side of me represented in Pope Leo.”
The election of Pope Leo XIV was a major event for Catholics worldwide, but it also resonated with MFS students regardless of their religious background. Witnessing the announcement live allowed the Upper School community to experience a historical moment firsthand.
