"Very proud, but I must say, I was totally shocked," Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the director of St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, DC, tells AFP following news of the conclave's election of Robert Francis Prevost, the first pope from the United States. "I was not expecting an American to be named pope. I thought, never in my lifetime," Jameson adds. Outside the Washington National Cathedral, Julio Aiana tells AFP he was "grateful to hear the news." The diplomat from Peru welcomes the election of a "half-Peruvian" new pope—Leo XIV, a Chicago native, is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru. For Ryder Lucich, a student in the DC area, the election of Leo marks a move for the Catholic Church toward "modern-facing values." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES