People in the Bay Area reacted with excitement and surprise Thursday following the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff to lead the Catholic Church.

Catholics who spoke to CBS News Bay Area following his election said that they thought would never see a pope from the United States. The pontiff, who was previously known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, was born in Chicago in 1955.

"It's surprising," a parishioner at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco said following the news of his election. "I just saw something the other day about how America wasn't going to have a pope, because we have so many other things dominating the world, that the pope was not going to be one of them."

Outside Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, The Rev. Michael Liliedahl told reporter Lauren Toms, "If you had asked me this morning, waking up, when will we have an American pope? I would have said centuries from now, not hours from now."

At a watch party at Holy Spirit Church in Fremont, parishoners expressed excitement about a pope from the U.S. as a successor to the Argentinian-born Pope Francis, who was the first pontiff from the Americas.

"Yeah, everyone's excited," said Mario Castellanos, the church's director of youth ministry. "I just hope this pope continues that legacy that Pope Francis has, has really, is really known for and has got that course going."

In an interview with reporter Elizabeth Cook, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said, "An American is really big news. I never thought we would see an American pope. But he is also Latin American, he spent most of his priesthood in South America, so he knows both worlds and can bridge both worlds."

When asked about the direction Pope Leo XIV would take the church and its 1.4 billion members, Cordileone said, "I sensed a definite vision of continuity and stability. I see his trying to continue with the vision of Francis with the kind of the church we need, listens more and brings the gospel out to peripheries. So I see a sense of continuity with tradition, leaning into some of the vision of Pope Francis and bringing more unity and stability."

Bishop Oscar Cantu of the Diocese of San Jose said in a statement, "By choosing the name Leo, our Holy Father nods to Pope Leo XIII, author of Rerum Novarum (1891), the landmark encyclical that placed the dignity of workers and the demands of justice at the heart of Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIV's first words from the loggia - a call to "build bridges, not divide" - signal a pastoral desire to span the distance between divisions."

Cantu said a Mass of Thanksgiving for the pope's election would take place at the catheral in San Jose on May 19.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her statement also referenced Leo XIII's encyclical, which she described as a "blessing for working people."

"In his own words, Pope Leo XIV said, 'We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone.'" Pelosi said. "Let us thank God for His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and for this vision of unity. All of us hope and pray for the success of His Holiness and his vision for the Church."

Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a statement, saying, "May he remind us that our better angels are not far away — they're always within us, waiting to be heard. In a fractured world, we pray his voice becomes a bridge — between faiths, nations, and beliefs — and a force for peace rooted in our shared humanity."

The College of Cardinals elected Leo XIV as the successor to Pope Francis in a conclave that took about one day. A priest who spent many years of his ministry in Peru, Francis named Prevost as a cardinal in 2023 and was most recently the was the head of the church's Dicastery for Bishops, overseeing the selection of new bishops.