Chili, N.Y. (WHAM) — As billions around the world celebrate the birth of Christ, Catholics in Chili considered the message of Christmas and the impact of the first American Pontiff.

BACKGROUND: Pope Leo XIV celebrates first Christmas mass, marking a milestone in his pontificate

Julia Gaffney, 17, attended the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis this past November, and experienced a rare opportunity to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV, who addressed thousands virtually from the Vatican.

“We’re meeting during a special moment in the life of the Church,” the Pope told the crowd, who had travelled from around the country.

“I took away that he’s really connected,” Gaffney reflected. “You might think someone older than you wouldn’t understand you, what’s wrong in your life, but he was there — like, he could be there for you.”

The conference, for Gaffney, marked a special experience of a significant time in American history, as the Chicago-born Pope leads the Catholic Church, and its billions of followers around the world.

The new Pope shared nearly an hour, and according to Barbara Legere, the Director of Youth Ministry at St. Pius X in Chili, he asked for more time to speak to the children — leading prayer and answering questions about the Catholic faith.

“He talked to this kids about that in their language,” Legere said. “He laughed with them, he joked with them, but he was also really serious about pointing them in the direction of faith and growth in their own lives.”

At St. Pius X, the moment was not lost on the congregation — the parish rebuilt after a 2015 fire destroyed the “round church,” as Father Paul Bonacci said congregants often referred to it.

“The church this evening is the new church that the people built,” Bonacci told 13WHAM’s Daniel Finkelstein ahead of a Christmas Eve mass. “They’ve been through a literal trial by fire, and they came through with flying colors.”

Sharing his message to the community: “God doesn’t think like we do,” Bonacci said. “God doesn’t act like we do. And so if we can embrace his way act and speak and love like he does, it’s going to change the world.”

Pope Leo XIV delivered his first Christmas address and mass at the Vatican, calling for justice, peace, and stability in the Middle East, and prayers for the people of war-torn countries around the world. He emphasized that peace can only emerge through dialogue.

“He understands our culture in a way that other holy fathers, other popes, have not,” Bonacci said of the Pope. “So hopefully that will resonate and people of the United States will say ‘He understands us. So let’s listen to his message, because it’s a message we can understand.”