"I hope to be able to respond to [the challenges] with a healthy dialogue," said Cardinal Robert Prevost in 2023.

ROME — The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

As Pope Leo XIV stepped out in front of cheering crowds outside of St. Peter’s Basilica to give his first speech as head of the Holy See, experts took note of a few subtle clues that may reveal what direction the Catholic Church will go under his leadership.