ATLANTA — Catholic churches across metro Atlanta had their first Sunday services since the election of the new pope. Channel 2’s Bryan Mims was at Christ the King Cathedral, where worshippers are energized by their new leader.

The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

The temporary chimney atop the Sistine Chapel released a plume of white smoke on Thursday evening local time, signaling that the 133 cardinals working inside had reached a two-thirds majority to elect a new pope for the Catholic Church.