In his first address as pope, Prevost said, “We will be a church that always seeks peace and always seeks charity and must be close to those who suffer.”

Across Oregon, news of an American pope took many by surprise. While Prevost was considered on the short-list as possible successors, his election was far from a sure-thing.

“Everybody said there would never be an American pope,” said Deacon Phil McCarty, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Bend.

McCarty praised both Prevost’s ministry work in Peru and his work in the Vatican.

“He knows both worlds,” McCarty said. “Do you want a diplomat or do you want a pastor? And I think we have both in this pope.”

Catholic Charities of Oregon echoed those sentiments, saying Prevost’s election has shown “a clear love for people who are poor.”

Prevost, who has dual citizenship in America and Peru, “has been a champion of migrants and those society has pushed to the margins,” the organization wrote in a statement after his election. “His combined citizenship is an important sign of unity. We believe he will be a bridge builder, something urgently needed in the world today.”

While an American pope was ruled out for decades for geo-political reasons, Father Thomas D’Souza, the parish priest at St. Katherine Catholic Church in Enterprise, in Eastern Oregon, said the cardinals who elected Prevost should not consider such factors when selecting a pope today.

“There was no politics involved in this election,” D’Souza said. “The Holy Spirit chose him with God’s guidance. He wanted someone from our country and it wasn’t political.”

Father John Kerns of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, found significance in Prevost taking the name of Leo, which he connected with Prevost’s concern for the poor.

“The background of Pope Leo XIV gives me a strong sense that he gets what day-to-day life is like for my parishioners and me,” Kerns said. “And his résumé, which took him all over the world, gives me the sense that he gets a day-to-day life of people from a wide variety of nations.”

The name a pope chooses is “usually an homage to the previous pope with that name,” Kerns said. Pope Leo XIII, who lead the church in the late 1800s, is known as a champion of the beginning of Catholic social teaching during the Industrial Revolution, particularly in advocating for the working class and poor. “I interpret that as a nod to his concern for the rights of the poor and the dignity of every human person,” Kerns said.

The Rev. Ted Prentice, pastor at St. Cyril Catholic Church in Wilsonville, said catholics around the world will soon find out about the church’s new direction.

“He has the opportunity to share in the weeks and months ahead what his vision is, in terms of leadership and his style of leadership,” Prentice said, adding that he hopes people are able to have a connection with the new pope like they did with Pope Francis.

“Hopefully there will be the same spirit of support and that same spirit of interest in hearing what he has to say, and hearing the reflections he has in terms of how we are called to live our life,” Prentice said.

Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, who oversees the Portland archdiocese, said Oregon catholics will have the new pope in their prayers.

“We lift him up in prayer as he takes on this tremendous responsibility,” Sample said. “May God grant him the grace to shepherd us according to the mind and heart of Christ.”

In Bend, McCarty put it another way.

“It’s good to have a shepherd once again,” he said.

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Reporters William Bradshaw, Corey Buchanan, Krista Kroiss and Michael Kohn and James Sloan contributed to this article.