Stars, Stripes, and the Fisherman’s Ring

By Jenny Kraska Executive DirectorMaryland Catholic Conference Today [8 May], the bells of Saint Peter’s Basilica pealed with joyful thunder, signaling a moment of profound grace and historic consequence: the election of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV — the first American ever to ascend to the Chair of Peter. As Catholics across the United States watched the white smoke rise from the Sistine Chapel, many were filled with awe and gratitude. For generations, American Catholics have been a vibrant part of the universal Church — immigrants and their descendants who carried the faith with them across oceans and through adversity. Now, one of our own, shaped by the Church in the United States, has been called to shepherd the entire Body of Christ. This is a moment of deep pride for American Catholics — not pride in the worldly sense, but a spiritual ...