The United States was often deemed too powerful — militarily, diplomatically, and even culturally — for one of its own to control one of the world’s most influential seats of moral authority: the Roman Catholic Church and its flock, which is currently more than three times the size of the US population.

On this episode, The Washington Post's Libby Casey, Rhonda Colvin and James Hohmann are joined by religion reporter Michelle Boorstein and Rome bureau chief Anthony Faiola to discuss the papal conclave and the election of the first American pope,

From Washington to Rome, leaders around the globe responded to the surprise election of American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the next head of the Catholic Church.

Black smoke again billowed out of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, the second day of the conclave, indicating that no new pontiff has been chosen after the second or third ballots. There are still

Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States has been elected the new pope and has chosen the name Pope Leo XIV.