DECATUR 鈥 St. Patrick student Madison Davis was the first to notice the white smoke.
鈥淚've had (the live stream) on in my homeroom on the SmartBoard since yesterday,鈥 said Brittney Lancaster, a teacher at St. Patrick School.

Students at St. Patrick School watched the first speech of the new pope.聽
The students, Lancaster said, were watching some seagulls who were walking around near the smokestack and not paying attention to the smokestack itself until seventh grader Madison noticed the white smoke, traditionally the signal that the cardinals in the conclave have elected a new pope, and alerted the rest of the class.
The new pope, who will be known as Leo XIV, is a Chicago native and St. Patrick Principal Amy Yusko joked that she hopes that means he's a Cubs fan.
Steve Smith and Gary Durbin, members of the Council 577 Knights of Columbus in Decatur, were happy to hear the news about the new pope. "It's the first American pope of all the centuries of the church," Smith said.
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With the rumor of the pope being a Cub's fan, the new pontiff is even more appealing. Prevost once lived on the southside of Chicago. "I was thinking, please don't be a White Sox fan," Durbin said about the opposing Chicago-area team.
Cub fans like Smith and Gary have already begun wishful thinking. "People are saying maybe we're going to win the World Series now that we've got the pope," Durbin said.
鈥淲e were in the room next to (Lancaster's),鈥 said Rosalind Martin, a sixth grader. 鈥淎 kid yelled out, 'The white smoke came out!'鈥

Sixth grader Rosalind Martin has already printed out a photo of Pope Leo XIV to hang in her locker at St. Patrick School.聽
鈥淚 heard them screaming and I ran in there,鈥 said Liam Lancaster, also a sixth grader. 鈥(His being from Chicago) is even cooler. Typically, they're all from Rome, so it's cool to have one that's from here.鈥
Rosalind has already printed out a photo of the new pope and made a construction-paper frame for it, so she can hang it in her locker.
Students already went Googling to find out all about the new pope and found that he has his own page on Wikipedia, so they could learn about his background.

Students at St. Patrick School watched the first speech of the new pope.聽
At Our Lady of Lourdes, religion teacher Rachel Bauer has been live-streaming the Vatican's chimney cam since the conclave began and was the first to notice the white smoke there. Principal Jenny Brummer made an all-school announcement to let everyone else know.
鈥淲e live-streamed the announcement in the lobby and in many classrooms,鈥 Brummer said. 鈥淢any of our junior high students stayed in during recess and then ate lunch in the classroom to watch it. Extra prayer is being included in our religion classes today, and I am sure it will be a main theme of our school Mass this afternoon. We have been praying a special prayer during morning announcements this week, too.鈥
Ken Hendriksen, executive director of the educational foundation at St. Teresa High School, said the new pope is vocally pro-life, which is important to him.聽
"I'm excited," Hendriksen said. "I think he brings hope. I think he's going to be good."聽
Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter