Catholics in Mississippi react to the world’s first American pope and his surprising Southern roots

During mass, cathedral rector Fr. Nick Adams shares his excitement about the announcement.

“Yesterday I said something that maybe I'll never say again in my priesthood,” he said. “We knew we had a new pope but we didn’t know his name. So in the Eucharistic prayer, I didn’t know what to do so I just said, ‘we pray for whoever just got elected pope and Joseph our bishop.’ Now, we know we get to say Leo for the first time.”

Adams says having the opportunity to celebrate a new pope is rare.

“It's kind of this amazing phenomenon that for 267 men, this entire church has looked to this man as the leader of the faithful,” he said. “But the leader of the faithful, right, is a steward who points us to Christ. Peter being the first pope. He follows after Christ, and he leads others in His way. So we are praying for Pope Leo, that he is able to do the same thing.”

Bill Philipp of Jackson is a congregant at the cathedral. He says he was excited that the conclave took such a short time to deliberate.

“I think that it's I think it's a great boon for the church that he was elected so quickly,” he said. “I think that that shows that there was unity in the conclave, and that the church is perhaps not as divided as the rest of this country.”

Philipp says he’s keeping an open mind about Pope Leo XIV.

“We don't know too much about Pope Leo,” he said. “I know that he's an American, and that could be a good or a bad thing.”

Cassidy, another congregant who declined to give her last name due to privacy concerns, shares that the news of Pope Leo XIV is exciting.

“I'm feeling amazing,” she said. “It's really exciting to celebrate mass. It's exciting to have Pope Leo XIV as our leader. It's really electric for me.”

Cassidy says she feels that the roots of the new pope are an asset. Pope Leo XIV is originally from Chicago, but he has ancestors who were Creoles of color in New Orleans.

“As an international leader, I'm sure that he's going to have some thoughts or influence in the South, especially being that his predecessor, Pope Francis, had even visited our school, Sister Thea Bowman, here,” she said. 

Bishop Joseph Kopacz, who leads the diocese of Jackson, says he finds Pope Leo XIV’s ancestry intriguing.

“His roots, the Creole culture, which is so rich in this area, I think more people than not would find that to be very interesting and welcoming,” he said. “Some would be rigid about that, but I think that's very interesting. I mean, because it shows how diverse, for example, our country is in many ways that aren't even obvious.”

Kopacz believes the pope, and even his family, could have a transformative effect on people’s relationship to Catholicism.

“I think it's a moment of inspiration for a lot of people in our country and anybody who's associated with them by roots or by blood, by region,” he said. “I think people are excited and hopefully it will encourage people to take another look at their faith in the Lord, their relationship with the church.”

Kopacz, along with other Bishops from the Southern region, may have the chance to meet with the new pope in the fall.

“He'll have a chance to meet us, spend an hour or two with us and talk,” he said. “So I'll have a couple of opportunities, but I've never met him. And no, we don't know each other, but to have a pope speaking English. That's his first language for 20 some years of his life. It's a whole different thing.”

Kopacz says he believes Pope Leo XIV will be able to bridge the gap between progressive leaning and more conservative Catholics.