In the summer of 1973, the war was still raging in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal was unfolding in Washington, and protests roiled college campuses nationwide. But at leafy Villanova University just outside Philadelphia,

The Augustinian-affiliated university has pulsed with nonstop celebration, including ‘pope punch’ and ringing bells, since an alumnus was selected to lead the Catholic Church.

Villanova University alumnus Cardinal Robert Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV, was elected as the next leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and succeeds Pope Francis.