The Catholic Church’s selection of its first American Pope took many observers by surprise, both worldwide and those present at the event.

That includes Michigan native and WDET photographer Dawn Uhl-Zifilippo.

She was in Vatican City during the conclave to elect the new Pope.

She described the electrifying moments after Cardinal Robert Prevost stepped to a balcony and delivered his first address as Pope Leo XIV.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Dawn Uhl-Zifilippo: It sounds like a soccer match right now in St Peter’s. It’s just unleashed joy right now. All this energy that’s been held back waiting for that decision has just sprung out. Just a lot of happiness, a lot of joy in that square right now. And a lot of people.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: It looks like a vast crowd from all the scenes there. It also sounds as if the announcement that a new pope had been elected made a big difference in the mood of the crowd.

DZ: When I was there earlier it was still a sea of people. But it was actually rather quiet. You would expect a higher crowd noise from the amount of people that were there. I wouldn’t say it was quite reverent, but they were using their “inside” voices, almost like when you’re walking through a museum. But under that was this energy, a vibration, if you will, that felt like a coiled spring. So there was a lot of anticipation, but it was a calm, quiet anticipation. You knew when the announcement was made that the crowd would just explode. And that’s exactly what’s happened.

QK: You’ve traveled a bit, you’ve seen various places. Now you’re there during this historic event. Is there anything that has surprised you, something that you weren’t expecting?

DZ: Once again, it is the way the crowd conducted itself, the huge amount of people there. The first day there was 45,000 people. The Vatican City is about 109 acres of land and everywhere you went, it was full of thousands of people. But it didn’t sound like you had that many people there. I guess it was the respect and almost reverence. It was not quite that because not everybody there was waiting to see who the new pope was going to be. There’s a lot of people who are simply tourists. But still, the kind of respect there among that many people, it was really kind of impressive.

QK: Have you heard any talk among those people or others in hotels, bars, etc., about their reaction now that the church has actually named its’ first-ever pope from the U.S.?

DZ: I think a lot of people are a little surprised. The top two contenders were Italian, so it was a bit of a shocker. There was some conversation before the announcement was made, where I was at, hoping that there would be someone to follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis and continue the church on that trajectory. Because, in their opinion, the church needed that progressive stance. So after the announcement was made and we found out who the new pope is, his address to everyone thanking Pope Francis, it was obvious that he was going to be following in that line. I think there was a bit of relief, quite honestly, that this is where it was going. Now, of course, not everybody feels that way. But among the groups that I overheard, that was the general feeling.

QK: Obviously this is a global event. You see pictures of people waving flags, carrying them around. Did you ever see anybody with any U.S. flags or anyone there saying, “Yeah, go American?”

DZ: Not that I saw to begin with. And I was in the space for quite a while. I stood in place just listening and I counted somewhere around maybe eight different languages that I’m aware of. But not very many English-speaking people there. You saw pride of place, people carrying flags and wrapping themselves in the flag of their home country. I did not see any American flags then. Now that the announcements have been made you do see some people that have American flags in the square celebrating. Clearly this position as pope has impact across the world and it was reflected in the people that were walking around the square. There is a lot of people with hope. We’ve always known this as a powerful position. But being on the ground, seeing the amount of people, the diversity, it really drives home how powerful this position is.

QK: For people that would have just watched the event on television or online, is there something that you’ve seen, felt, heard, that people wouldn’t get from just a flat screen video of the event?

DZ: Being on the ground it was, I don’t know how to put this, heartening, I guess. There was this underlying feeling of hope and anticipation. And walking in that space, again with everyone being calm and relatively quiet, it really was powerful. That this position would have that kind of impact, that someone embodied that kind of hope and almost unity, honestly. It’s under a particular religion, but it was something lovely to see with all of the violence and acrimony that’s going on now. This amount of people having a peaceful gathering with the hope and the anticipation behind it. It was refreshing. And the contrast over three hours’ time. It being very full in the area around St. Peter’s but still some space, to now being just solid human beings. In three hours’ time. The contrast is stunning, the calm and now the joy and the energy. It’s like you flipped a switch.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinal Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.

White smoke poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled Thursday after cardinals elected the 267th pope to lead the Catholic Church on the second day of their conclave.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky at 6:07 p.m. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won.

The smoke signal means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

As the crowd waited, the Swiss Guards marched out and a military band played, marching up the steps to the basilica.

The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus Papam!” — Latin for “We have a pope!” — from the loggia of the basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin and reveals the name he has chosen to be called.

The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia.

Eyes on the chimney

Earlier Thursday, large school groups joined the mix of humanity awaiting the outcome in St. Peter’s Square. They blended in with people participating in preplanned Holy Year pilgrimages and journalists from around the world who have descended on Rome to document the election.

“The wait is marvelous!” said Priscilla Parlante, a Roman.

Pedro Deget, 22, a finance student from Argentina, said he and his family visited Rome during the Argentine pope’s pontificate and were hoping for a new pope in Francis’ image.

“Francis did well in opening the church to the outside world, but on other fronts maybe he didn’t do enough. We’ll see if the next one will be able to do more,” Deget said from the piazza.

The Rev. Jan Dominik Bogataj, a Slovene Franciscan friar, was more critical of Francis. He said if he were in the Sistine Chapel, he’d be voting for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is on many papal contender lists.

“He has clear ideas, not much ideology. He’s a direct, intelligent and respectful man,” Bogataj said from the square. “Most of all, he’s agile.”

Some of the cardinals had said they expected a short conclave.

For much of the past century, the conclave has needed between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.

Conjecture on contenders

The cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual Wednesday afternoon, participating in a rite more theatrical than even Hollywood could create. Bright red cassocks, Swiss Guards standing at attention, ancient Latin chants and oaths preceded the slamming shut of the Sistine Chapel doors to seal the cardinals off from the outside world.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the 70-year-old secretary of state under Francis and a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed leadership of the proceedings as the most senior cardinal under age 80 eligible to participate.

Parolin seemed to have received the blessings from none other than Re, the respected elder among the cardinals. During the traditional exchange of peace during the pre-conclave Mass on Wednesday, Re was caught on a hot mic telling Parolin “auguri doppio” or “double best wishes.” Italians debated whether it was just a customary gesture acknowledging Parolin’s role running conclave, or if it might have been an informal endorsement or even a premature congratulations.

The voting process

The voting followed a strict choreography, dictated by church law.

Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — “I elect as supreme pontiff.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”

The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different “scrutineers,” cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.

The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisers, then add up the results of each round of balloting and write them on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.

As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo.” All the ballots are then bound together with thread, and the bundle is put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke.

–Reporting by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press. AP Writers Giada Zampano, Helena Alves and Vanessa Gera contributed.