New York City reacts to first American pope

Well, in a little less than an hour, a mass will be held at St. Patrick's Cathedral here in New York City

That's right, and that's where people from all around the world went to celebrate the naming of the new pope

Good Days, Haley Fixler, is there live with reaction to the first American-born pope

Haley, what's going on? Good morning, Tita. Dan, well, let me just tell you, the energy out here yesterday when the news broke that the new pope was American-born

Absolutely electric. And people have a lot of high hopes for the new pope

I do want to show you just some of the excitement from yesterday

Take a listen. It's the American Reboats. It's the American Reboats. It means, like, I can't believe it

It's like everything. All I want is this world to be together, to be at peace

You know, we need that. I would love to know if he's going to continue some of the legacy of Pope Francis that I really loved

I felt like he embraced and was bringing the world together. Catholics, non-Catholics, just humanity

I have a disabled son. The Pope can make a big difference

Bringing people together. Same spirit of Francis. A lot of excitement there

Now there was actually afternoon mass going on when people found out that Pope Leo XIV would make history And some were already here when the news broke Others dropped everything to come to St Pax to light a candle celebrate and pray Now later last night there were special prayers and things during the Mass

Pope Leo now represents about a third of New Yorkers in the city. People tell us they feel inspired now with having an American pontiff

and they believe this will help them feel more connected to their faith and to the Vatican

Now, Mayor Eric Adams, he posted on social media. In part, he wrote, quote

New York City is a global city bringing together Catholics from all around the world

And I know that given his international service, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV will bring an inclusive perspective to the papacy

Now, Pope Leo shares a connection with a lot of people around here. He was born in Chicago, and of course, he also went to Villanova University

And we actually spoke with a fellow graduate who was at St. Pat's when Pope Leo was chosen

And he is excited to now be able to say he went to the same college as the Pope

I think it's wonderful. I mean, it's like no other buddy in this country ever went to school

No one out of the class before the Villanova class of 1977 has had a pope. So it's a pretty cool deal

All right. So morning mass starts at seven o'clock this morning, and we do expect

a lot of people to come out here to pray and to celebrate the new pope

I'm at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Tina, Dan, back to you. Kelly, thank you so much

And we will have continuing coverage of the new pope throughout the morning

as we get to know more about Pope Leo XIV