The pontiff broke the news to 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Lester Holt, a former CBS2 Chicago anchor, in a brief one-on-one chat at the Vatican on Monday. Leo says he's heard that people are coming back to the church as a result of an American being named pontiff.

Pope Leo XIV is busy in his first full week of work in the Vatican, but will he consider making a trip home to Chicago in the near future?

NBC News' Lester Holt spoke to John Prevost, one of Pope Leo XIV's older brothers, while he was visiting the pope in his first days of the papacy. "I think the whole world is rooting for him right now,