Seniors at St. Rita High School on Chicago's Southwest Side were given a pretty straightforward assignment this week: choose a potential pope and give a presentation. Then came the curveball from the papal conclave.

Sports fans had one question when Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago was elected as the new pope: What are his favorite teams?

P olitical figures around the world have congratulated Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, after his election on Thursday, May 8, as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Hailing from Chicago and a dual U.S.-Peru national, Prevost is the first North American Pope and second from the Americas, after his late predecessor Francis.