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.

"It's been an unbelievable week, obviously, for all of us," said Mark Duffey, who was ordained as a deacon at St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in Palatine.