The papal conclave is over and a new pontiff has officially been announced: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV.
The 69-year-old is the first-ever pope hailing from the US, having been born in Chicago, Illinois. And as you can imagine, the internet wasted no time in commenting on the moment, with reactions that verged from humorous to plain dumb – especially when it came to the MAGA crowd, who weren’t best pleased that the new pope didn’t speak in English for his first speech.
For the sake of sanity, we won’t focus on the terminally stupid takes and opt for the sanity-restoring tomfoolery, with a great deal of social media users taking the late Pope Francis at his word when he said “There is faith in humour” and letting their Chicago pride shine.
The Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, posted: “Everything dope, including the Pope, comes from Chicago! Congratulations to the first American Pope Leo XIV! We hope to welcome you back home soon.”
Others referenced Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza, joking about whether Rome would be able to accept that particular kind of culinary heresy, while some referenced the celebrated Chicago-based TV show The Bear.
Here are some of our favourite reactions to the new pope:
"Smart play for the Vatican to go with an American Pope to avoid tariffs"
Some homework will be required...
No truer word has been spoken.
For those not familiar, Malört is a US brand of bäsk liqueur, a type of brännvin flavoured with anise that was introduced in Chicago in the 1930s. Spoiler: it's disgusting.
Impressive run, it has to be said.
The odds look good.
It's mustard and pickles all the way now. Which is no bad thing.
Pope Chuck does have a certain ring to it... Is it too late to make a change?
Looks... sturdy.
The horror... The horror...
This take will not fly. And deep dish pizza is not pizza. To quote Jon Stewart, in one of his finest rants: “It’s a casserole.”
Pope Mush the Dainty.
It did go by awfully quickly, didn't it?
