Pacelli Catholic Schools celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV

By Jed Nelson

There are moments in history that are so important, so joyful or tragic that we remember exactly where we were or what we were doing when the news was broken to us. The moment the TV turned on or hearing the static of the radio will forever be ingrained in our memory.

For the students and staff at Pacelli Catholic Schools, the election of Pope Leo XIV was one of those moments, but certainly one they did not see coming.

“About a half hour before the white smoke I told students it was not going to happen,” Pacelli Social Studies teacher Nicholas McGrath said regarding the election of American Cardinal Robert Prevost.

“The reason being, the global community has somewhat wrongly accepted that having an American pope would concentrate too much power within the United States,”