Robert Francis Prevost -- who took the name Pope Leo XIV -- emerged onto the balcony at St. Peter's Basilica Thursday as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
But, he would also be the first ever American pope and the first pope to have graduated from a Philadelphia area college.
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WATCH HEREBefore he was named as the pontiff, Prevost, who was born in Chicago, Il., attended classes at Villanova University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1977.
During his time as a Villanova student, Pope Leo XIV worked for the Philadelphia Archdiocese as a groundskeeper at the Saint Denis Cemetery in Havertown.
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SIGN UP "We are just over the moon," Father Robert Hagan, the Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, said to NBC10. "We're so proud of our brother, you know. To us, he was Bob."
"I think we've always known what a gift Pope Leo XIV is to us as Bob, Bob Prevost. And now to see that gift in service of the world is just an exciting day for everybody," Hagan added.
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Bells rang out on Villanova's campus Thursday, letting its faculty and students know that one of the university's own is now pope.
“As soon as I left my exam, I looked at my phone, and all my family texted me from home, saying, 'Oh, he’s an alumni from Villanova,'" said Phoebe Stostack, a Villanova student.
According to a biography on Villanova University's site, following his undergraduate studies at Villanova, Prevost earned a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982 and was ordained a priest the same year.
Bishop Prevost went on to earn both licentiate, in 1984, and doctorate, in 1987, degrees in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Villanova's profile noted.
Also, according to the profile, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985, and worked predominantly in that country until the late 1990s.
"Nearly a decade of that time was spent leading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and teaching canon law at the diocesan seminary," the biography reads.
In 1999, Prevost returned to the United States after being named provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago, and Villanova's profile notes that he was then elected in 2001 as prior general of the Augustinians and re-elected to a second six-year term in 2007.
In 2014, Pope Francis named Prevost -- then a bishop -- as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in northern Peru and titular bishop of Sufar, Villanova's profile explains.
Prevost was elevated to bishop of Chiclayo in 2015, holding the position for eight years until his appointment in January as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
Local Community Reacts
Along with members of the Villanova community, Catholics in the Philadelphia area shared their thoughts on the first American pope.
At Rowan University, students came together and prayed along with Pope Leo XIV as he became the first pontiff elected in their adult lives.
"It just doesn’t seem real. It’s surreal," said Kari Janisse, a campus minister at Rowan University. "It’s a surreal moment in our entire church and world. An American pope. It’s incredible.”
Those that gathered also shared their excitement for what was to come as a new pope takes over as leader of the Catholic Church.
“I’m really just so excited. Just to be catholic, to be American, to see our new shepherd the visible head of the church, leading us forward," said Father John Rossi, the chaplain at Rowan University.
People have also been visiting the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia all day as they join in welcoming a new chapter for the church.
Ward Fitzgerald, the president of the Papal Foundation, which is a charitable organization founded in Philadelphia that serves the Catholic Church, said he expects the new pope to unite people regardless of their background.
"The electricity in the air is amazing. The excitement," Fitzgerald said. "I probably received 400 texts in the last few hours, many who are churchgoers and many who are not... The whole world sees a leader. It's amazing."
The Philadelphia Archdiocese is holding a Mass of Thanksgiving for Pope Leo XIV at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Paul and Peter on Friday, May 9, at 12:05 p.m.
