BILLINGS — After weeks of significant moments in the Catholic church, one Billings student has found himself at the center of one of the most extraordinary moments in modern church history.
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When the white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel and cheers erupted through St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, 24-year-old Thomas Johnson stood among the crowd of thousands watching history unfold.
The Billings native is a seminarian studying in Rome and was there to witness the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pontiff.
“It's deafening in the square. Everyone is screaming and cheering," recalled Johnson. “The entire crowd just sort of erupts and just, 'Leone, Leone!' It was amazing."
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Johnson, who grew up in the West End of Billings and attended church at St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral, was homeschooled before entering a college seminary in Oregon. After completing a degree in philosophy, a conversation with his bishop unexpectedly set him on a course to Rome.
"The furthest east I've ever been was South Dakota, and then, you know, you get on a plane and you move to Rome,” joked Johnson. "I didn't speak any Italian, didn't really know anybody here."
Now living at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Johnson is pursuing theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, or the Angelicum, which is the same university both Pope Leo XIV and Pope John Paul II once attended. He plans to return to study canon law next year and later be ordained as a priest in Montana.
In his three years abroad, Johnson has had numerous experiences most seminarians could only dream of, such as working as a Vatican tour guide, traveling across Europe, and meeting Pope Francis several times before his passing, even serving Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for him in 2023.
"That was, again, one of those experiences like, 'I can't believe what I'm doing right now,' because you're serving mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the pope,” said Johnson.
Despite all that, the past few weeks since April 21 have been a whirlwind for Johnson.
Johnson was vacationing in France when news broke of Pope Francis’s passing. Upon returning to Rome after the funeral, he joined fellow American seminarians in hosting U.S. cardinals as the church prepared for the conclave, something not many students get the chance to witness.
“Having grown up on (the) West End of Billings, I've now had several conversations with a number of cardinals, which is not something I ever would have guessed either," said Johnson. “There were something like 11 or 12 cardinals walking all over, not to mention the bishops."
As the conclave began, Johnson said the seminarians kept running shoes on standby, ready to race to the square at the first sign of white smoke. MTN News had originally scheduled an interview with Johnson on the second day of the conclave at 6 p.m. Rome time, but just a few minutes after not being able to join the call due to poor connectivity in St. Peter's Square, something major got in the way.
“You hear this like audible like gasp from like 40,000 people around you, and your eyes immediately snapped to the chimney, and there's white smoke coming out," said Johnson. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, it happened. It happened on the fourth vote, which never happens."
Nearly 40 minutes later, the new pope emerged. To Johnson, time felt suspended.
"I remember looking at my looking down at my watch at one point, and realizing that it had been 35 minutes since the smoke had started, and it felt like it had been maybe five," said Johnson.
When the cardinal stepped onto the balcony and announced the new pope as Pope Leo XIV, the crowd erupted again, but the biggest shock for Johnson came moments later, when he and his friend realized who had been elected. Johnson did not expect an American to ever be chosen.
"(Pope Leo XIV) came and he said mass for us on Thanksgiving and had Thanksgiving dinner with us, so we've met him, and it was it was just so crazy, because none of the Americans were even remotely on our radar," said Johnson. "No one seemed to care about the ethnicity or anything. It's like, 'No, we're one church, we're all united. He is our Pope, and we're just rejoicing in that.'"
Even during Pope Leo’s first homily on Friday, Johnson said he was struck by hearing the new pontiff speak in English with an American accent.
"That was a really weird thing to experience because usually it's Italian with some other accent in there, and you're trying to decipher what it is, and I don't have to think about that at all. I know exactly what he's saying," said Johnson. "I think it'll be interesting to see how his papacy unfolds as we get to know him as the Pope, as the Holy Father.”
Despite the chaos of history unfolding in real-time, Johnson’s regular life continues with his final exams coming up, and he will be returning to Montana in mid-June. Still, he will bring back with him the unforgettable experience.
“It's been a surreal experience. I don't think the full gravity of it has really hit in yet," said Johnson. "To be in the square for that and to get to witness history happening like that, it's never something I've felt before, that you're conscious that, 'This is a moment I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.'"
