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.

Robert Francis Prevost, who was born in Chicago and attended Villanova University, was elected as the new pope on Thursday and chose Leo XIV as his papal name.

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV is in a new job that will have many crossovers into politics. It's a realm not entirely unknown to the Chicago-born priest.