Gail Spreen goes most days to Mass just a few blocks from her home in Chicago, but the service at Holy Name Cathedral on Wednesday - dedicated to Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV - felt different.

"Knowing that everybody is behind him, it was very special to be there today," Spreen said.

"The church was full and everybody was praying. You could just see all those prayers going up and being received." Catholics in Chicago and around the world met the news of Leo's lung cancer diagnosis with shock, concern and support for the 71-year-old, whose candor around his health broke with the Vatican's tendency to be tight-lipped around papal health.