A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself. In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago’s pizza and more loaded than its hot dog.

America's most European city is buzzing over the news that the Catholic Church's new pope is not only from the U.S. but also has Haitian and Creole ancestors from New Orleans.While Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago,