The new pope said he would be guided by a key document that his predecessor wrote listing the church’s priorities, including a “loving care for the least and the rejected.”

ROME - The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

Pope Leo XIV, the first person from the United States to lead the Catholic Church, is taking on a financial headache in his new position. White smoke billowed from the Vatican at about 6 p.m. on Thursday as the papal conclave made its decision about who should become the leader of the Catholic Church.