HOLYOKE — Terry Keeler was sweeping the polished wood floor of the sanctuary at Our Lady of the Cross parish in Holyoke early Friday morning ahead of Mass. The lights weren’t even on yet as devotees dotted the pews of the immense cross-shaped Gothic church and prayed the rosary together.

This was the first morning in world history that an American was sitting on the 2,000-year-old Chair of St. Peter — and Keeler could feel the impact of that, with the news from Rome reverberating to the pews of western Massachusetts.

Keeler broke the quiet in the church and bubbled over with excitement as she talked about Pope Leo XIV, who was elected to the position on Thursday. She was just one among many Friday still processing what in her estimation qualifies as a miracle.

“Now we’ve got an American pope, and it’s like a blessing from heaven — I cried for about half a day,” she said.

The news of an American pope shocked her so much that she initially questioned her own ability to read, since the result of the two-day conclave was something she never expected to see happen at all — never mind in her own lifetime.

“I was home. I was watching TV and I’m looking and then I see ‘American Pope.’ And I’m reading — am I reading this right? And then from there I just kept on watching the TV all day,” she said. “When I was growing up my grandfather always told me you’ll never see an American pope and I got to see that in my life today.”

“We are happy and blessed,” said Sr. Maria Adoration who came to Mass with two of her fellow sisters from India, who are members of the religious order of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and are stationed in Holyoke.

In the next town over also on Friday morning, Karen Girard was leaving adoration at St. Theresa’s parish in South Hadley. She said that aside from the new pope’s American citizenship, she is excited for what she expects Pope Leo XIV will offer the global church of 1.4 billion believers.

Likening Leo to his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, she said that the new pope seems like, “a very compassionate and very loving person,” adding, “I saw interviews with his friends and with his own brother, and it seems like he’s real. There’s nothing phony about him.”

Like Keller, Patricia Paulin also reacted to Thursday’s news with tears. Attending daily Mass at St. Elizabeth Anne Seton parish in Northampton, she said she had “goosebumps” and “tears in my eyes,” as she watched news coverage of the election.

“I felt like I was right there in Rome with everyone else,” she said. “I could feel it right there in my living room as I sat in my chair. I couldn’t leave the TV, I was just glued to it. I didn’t want to miss a thing.”

The first thing that stood out to her was the way Pope Leo XIV seemed to embrace the world with his arms. He even said in his first address to the world, on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Basilica, that, “We have to work together to be a missionary church ... with open arms for everyone.”

Paulin said that, “I just liked him right off the bat. I could just tell when he came out with his hands out, and the way he smiled. I could just tell it’s going to be good. Like Francis — it’s going to be good.”

Fr. Henry Dorsch, a retired priest of the Diocese of Springfield who has witnessed popes going back to Pope Pius XII in the 1950s, was celebrating Mass at St. Elizabeth. As he vested in the sacristy before Mass he said that throughout the morning he has been trying to catch up with all the commentary surrounding the new pope.

From what he’s heard, he said, “It sounds like he has a pretty balanced approach to things.”

Andrzj Sek and Dick Beebe were both there for Mass.

Sek gave his take with a thick Polish accent. “Good — I like,” he said.

Beebe said, “I’m happy. I don’t know how good he is. He’s only been in a day.”

In that one day, Leo’s first full day as pope, the world saw the pope celebrate his first liturgy as pontiff, and his inauguration date was announced, which will be held at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 18.

He did not spend his first night in the traditional papal apartments. Leo XIV instead spent his first night in the Sant’Uffizio Palace in Vatican City.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.