A first U.S. pope: Cardinal Robert Prevost chosen as successor to Pope Francis

While the relative youth of the nation, fewer than 20 of the church's previous popes had served after the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, one prominent U.S. bishop offered possible explanation for the lack of an American leader of the world's Catholics a day before his election.

Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota, was appointed less than a week ago by President Trump to the new White House Commission on Religious Liberty. This week, however, he was at the Vatican with hundreds of other prelates as the cardinal electors gather for the conclave to choose a new pontiff.

Barron spent days speaking with the cardinals — including the 133 cardinal electors tasked with electing the new pope — as they tried to figure out among themselves who would be best to lead the church.While the relative youth of the nation, fewer than 20 of the church's previous popes had served after the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, one prominent U.S. bishop offered possible explanation for the lack of an American leader of the world's Catholics a day before his election.

Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota, was appointed less than a week ago by President Trump to the new White House Commission on Religious Liberty. This week, however, he was at the Vatican with hundreds of other prelates as the cardinal electors gather for the conclave to choose a new pontiff.

Barron spent days speaking with the cardinals — including the 133 cardinal electors tasked with electing the new pope — as they tried to figure out among themselves who would be best to lead the church.