MENDHAM, N.J. (OSV News) — As the Sisters of Christian Charity watched the white smoke rise from the Sistine Chapel in Rome May 8 and awaited the appearance of the new pope on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, they had no idea they had played a vital role in his early formation.

When Cardinal Robert F. Prevost’s name was announced and he stepped onto the balcony as Pope Leo XIV, joy rippled through the crowd — and among the sisters — as the world learned that the new pope was an American. A Chicago native. An Augustinian. An alumnus of Villanova University and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Details emerged that he hailed from the South Side of Chicago, from the suburban town of Dolton, Ill., and attended St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and School in nearby Riverdale. Tha

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