Like many Catholics in the Northland, Sister Paul Mary Dreger's students at Queen of Peace Catholic School in Cloquet were rapt Wednesday by coverage of the announcement of Argentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next leader of the Catholic Church.
But Sister Dreger and the other members of her order may have been the most thrilled after learning Bergolio's choice for a name: Pope Francis. That's because she is part of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.
"We're thrilled," Dreger said. "We don't know if it's because of St. Francis of Assisi or Francis Xavier, but we're very excited."
The former is the founder of the Franciscan Order in the 1200s. The latter is the Spanish missionary who helped spread Catholicism beyond Europe in the 1500s and was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).
Bishop Paul Sirba wondered the same thing about the name Wednesday and had an experience similar to that of the Cloquet students as he watched television with his staff at the Duluth Diocese office.
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"It's always a sign of joy," Sirba said of the ceremony of the day that included white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel chimney just after 1 p.m. Central time, meaning a new pope had been chosen.
He said he had heard Bergoglio's name before but didn't know much about him, except that he's "obviously a man who is in love with Jesus Christ."
"There was some thought they would go to the Americas," Sirba said of the historic choice, the first for this side of the world and the first non-European to head the church in 1,200 years.
"Wherever he's from, the pope is a signal of unity," Sirba said.
Sirba was excited about the future, knowing three priests currently in Rome are coming to the diocese in June.
One of those is Duluth East graduate Nick Nelson, who was in Vatican Square at nightfall in Rome when the signal came. He also relates to the pope's choice of a name. He was ordained a deacon on the Feast of St. Francis.
"This night was something I'll never forget," he wrote via e-mail to the News Tribune early Thursday morning in Rome. "When we saw the smoke and finally registered that it was white, everyone just flooded forward. What an electric atmosphere."
He, like many around him, did not expect a pope to be named Wednesday.
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"When his name was finally announced, I said, 'Who?'" Nelson wrote. "The more I hear about him, even in these few hours since his election, the more I love him already. He's our pope, our new papa."
The timing couldn't be better for Duluth Diocese members going to July's World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, now expected to be the hottest ticket in South America as it becomes a papal homecoming.
"It's our first chance to be with the new pope," Sirba said. "I'm glad we have our tickets. They were expecting millions of people and now I think they will have millions more."
Children at school at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Duluth were so excited about the new pope that they wrote "Yay! Pope Francis" on a white board.
Kristi Salls, an administrative assistant at St. Mary's, said the pick was a surprise.
"We got out of Europe," she said with a laugh.
Students shouted, "white smoke, white smoke," Dreger said of the reaction at the Queen of Peace school in Cloquet. They had been following the selection process closely on the Internet.
"They were so excited," she said.
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"One girl asked me, 'Are we watching history?'" Dreger said. "Yes, I said."
