Pope Leo XIV, or Papa León 14, has been selected to lead the Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion congregation worldwide. And on his first moment in a global spotlight, he chose to speak… Spanish. Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago but spent most of his life as a missionary and bishop in Peru, where he has citizenship. He’s the first-ever pope from the U.S. and the second from the Americas, which made him an unexpected choice. Chicago is claiming him, of course, and some historians in New Orleans are tracing his family’s genealogy there, but to Peruvians and Peruvian-Americans, he’s Peruvian. Period.

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This episode was produced by Monica Morales-Garcia. It was edited by Andrea López-Cruzado and mixed by Stephanie Lebow and JJ Querubin.

Collage by Luis Luna (Photos by: AP Photo/Erin Hooley, AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)