First American Pope: The Signs Were Obvious

By Enyinnaya Appolos

The signs pointing to the emergence of the first American pope—Pope Leo XIV—were clear long before his election. In hindsight, they were loud and undeniable, yet the world largely ignored them.

First, the Vice President of the United States was the last prominent global political figure to visit Pope Francis before his passing. Then, the Camerlengo—the cardinal tasked with overseeing the Vatican during the transition—was also an American, a detail that quietly signaled a shift but went unnoticed by many.

Perhaps the most bizarre and symbolic clue was an AI-generated image of former President Donald Trump dressed as the Pope, which went viral online. Even the White House responded to the image, and when asked about it, Trump dismissed it as a joke. But maybe it was more than that—perhaps it was a strange, digital prophecy of what was to come.

Now, it has materialized. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a native of Chicago, has been elected Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American to ascend to the papacy.

I speak as an African—one who questions everything, always reading between the lines. There is politics in every human activity; not everything is a coincidence.

Ndia ji uwa n’oru. Etiokwe, eriokwe.