Father Suresh Telegani, priest at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral in Baker City, is “very much excited” about Cardinal Robert Prevost’s election as the first American to serve as pope in the 2,000-year-history of the Catholic Church.

Telegani said on Thursday morning, May 8, just an hour or so after the election was announced from Vatican City, that he believes the choice of Prevost, who has taken the name Leo XIV, will have “a lot of impact” on the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

One of those impacts could be bringing more people, particularly in America, into the Catholic  Church, Telegani said.

“It brings a lot of joy to have someone from this country” elected as pope,” Telegani said.

Telegani, who is from India, said he has felt for some time that “a lot of people are losing their faith in God.”

He is optimistic that the new pope, a native of Chicago who was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023, will help to reverse that trend.

Pope Francis, who was from Argentina, died April 21.

Francis Mohr, a Baker City resident and longtime member of the Knights of Columbus, a global Catholic fraternal order, said he was surprised but pleased to learn that Prevost had been elected as pope.

Mohr said he’s especially happy that Pope Leo XIV spent much of his career as a priest in impoverished parts of Peru.

Mohr said he hopes the new pope will carry on Francis’ legacy of focusing on the plight of the poor and suffering.

Mohr also shares Telegani’s optimism that having an American serve as pope could bring more people to the church.

Although the Baker Diocese’s headquarters moved to Bend in 1987, St. Francis de Sales Cathedral, built from 1903-8 at First and Church streets, remains the site for ordinations and other major ceremonies for the diocese.

Telegani said he does not know whether any celebration of the new pope will be scheduled at the cathedral.