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.

Pope Leo XIV is now the most powerful American Catholic in the world, and experts say he must aptly walk the line between U.S. politics and his papal duties.

The new pope said he would be guided by a key document that his predecessor wrote listing the church’s priorities, including a “loving care for the least and the rejected.”

Live updates and latest news as the first North American pope steps into his role as the new leader of the Catholic Church.

The U.S. is one of only a handful of countries that taxes citizens living abroad. Thus, thanks to his American passport, the 69-year-old Chicago-born pope, known until last week as Robert Prevost, will likely need to file a tax return to the U.S. government just like any other citizen, experts told Fortune.

The elevation of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost to pope earlier this month has been a point of pride for Chicagoland parishes, including in the north suburbs of Morton Grove, Park Ridge,

The 73-year-old Florida man appears to be a staunch Trump supporter who uses his Facebook account to go on the attack.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.