Pope Leo XIV's election marks a historic moment: the first pope from an English-speaking country, and the first from the United States. Even more significant than these "firsts," I believe, is a "second": Leo follows in Pope Francis' footsteps as a priest shaped by the Latin American church.

With Roman Catholic cardinals set to begin their secret conclave to elect a new pope, the legacy left behind by Pope Francis, the first pope from Latin America, may be tightly guarded by the region's cardinals hoping to again install one of their own,

The election of a first North American pontiff came after the death of the first Latin American pope and signaled a relinquishing of papal authority from Europe.