One year ago today, Leo XIV was elected the first pope from the United States of America. A year into his papacy, we examine how the U.S. evolved from a nation with a long history of anti-Catholicism to one welcoming an American-born pope, and why the cardinals defied a longstanding taboo against a pope from a global superpower.

Interviews include:

- Kathleen Sprows Cummings, the John A. O’Brien Collegiate Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame

- Christopher Lamb, CNN Vatican Correspondent and author of The Outsider: Pope Francis and the Battle to Reform the Church and American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World

- J.D. Long García, senior editor at America

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