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“Nobody does drama like the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, shortly after emerging from the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.

The quick decision, made some 33 hours after the Sistine Chapel’s doors closed and the cardinals went into sequestration, was a sign that they likely entered the conclave with enough unity around the decision to continue Francis’ legacy that they did not have to spend days tussling over a new direction for the Vatican.

In the weeks ahead of the conclave, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, said in a joint press conference with five other American cardinals on Friday. “We listened to each other. What does the church need? What does the world need? What are we hoping for? What are we dreaming about?”

Leo, previously Cardinal Robert Prevost, a U.S. native with Peruvian citizenship and deep ties to Latin America, is described by the Vatican as the “second pope from the Americas,” to Francis’ first. He is known to have been close to the late pontiff, both in their daily dealings at the Vatican, and ideologically.

Like Francis, Leo is known for his concern for the poor and marginalized, and in his first Sunday blessing as pope, quoted Francis and called for ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, the subjects of Francis’ final message to the world.

The conclave is shrouded in secrecy, and many of the dealings that lead up to it remain in the shadows, but since the end of the conclave some cardinals have offered glimpses to what happened in the hours that led up to Leo’s election.

Once the Sistine Chapel’s doors close, the cardinals swear an oath of “absolute and perpetual secrecy,” as do all Vatican staff assisting them, including cooks, cleaners and drivers. Mobile phones are confiscated, an ancient reason for a digital detox that at least one cardinal, Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, appreciated for giving him “more time on my hands just to be prayerful, just to reflect, just to be still, rather than being constantly agitated,” he told the BBC.

On the first evening, the cardinals cast their first round votes, but black smoke billowed from the chimney, meaning no pope was chosen.

The cardinals adjourned for the night to Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse were most of them were staying — and eating. Cardinal Wilton Gregory said that “a lot of dialog occurred at mealtime, coffee breaks, those moments when you can engage in smaller groups.”

“The only method is the human method, to get to talk to another, the dialogue, to listen to one another,” Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, said, about the conversations that eventually lead to the two-thirds majority required to elect a pope.

The next morning the cardinals returned to the Sistine Chapel and two more ballots were cast, but black smoke emerged once again.

“Voting is like watching a glacier move, but sometimes glaciers under stress move a lot faster,” Tobin said.

Despite wide speculation on pabalili in the wake of Francis’ death, once the conclave began, we don’t know who the other frontrunners were, or why they fell behind. But Dolan told CNN that Prevost’s name had begun to emerge from relative obscurity even before the conclave began. And he continued to confer with his brother cardinals into the conclave.

“It wasn’t that he stood up and made this overwhelmingly convincing speech that just wowed,” said Gregory. “I don’t remember any particular intervention, but I do believe he engaged quite effectively in the smaller group conversations.”

And while conclaves in centuries past could stretch for weeks, Prevost’s election began to take shape on the second day.

Or as Gregory framed it: “There was a great movement on the second day, a great movement within the body that was there and there could be nothing other than the grace of God moving us toward this consensus.”

“What I experience is that everything begins in politics and finishes mystic,” added McElroy.

Tobin recalled the moment after casting his vote. “I walked back and I took a look at Bob, and because his name had been floating around, and he had his head in his hands,” he said. “I was praying for him, because I couldn’t imagine what happens to a human being when you’re facing something like that.”

During a press conference on Saturday, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, himself considered one of the leading candidates for pope, said he was seated next to Prevost.

In the minutes after his election, when the new pope was gasping for air as the weight of his new role descended on him, Tagle said he asked him if he wanted a piece of candy. Prevost accepted and Tagle pulled one from a pocket beneath his cardinal’s robe, “that’s my first act of charity,” he said he told Prevost, jokingly, “for our new Holy Father.”

Soon after, Prevost emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, proof of an efficient and sucessful conclave.

“This wasn’t our first rodeo,” Dolan said. “We’ve been through this 268 times.”

Howard University senior Dezmond Rosier had his sights set on the federal government to begin his career.

The 22-year-old, who graduated this month with a bachelor’s degree in political science and an economics minor, planned to apply to the Department of Education, but cuts to the department’s workforce and the Trump administration’s efforts to ditch anything related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives prompted him to change course.

Rosier, a first-generation college student, said President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education and his moves to put the plan in motion once he entered the White House left him feeling “discouraged.”

Rosier is one of four Black students who spoke with NBC News about graduating into a job market that has seen DEI rollbacks, less outward enthusiasm for recruiting Black workers and signs of a cooldown in hiring for everyone. New college graduates’ unemployment rate was 5.8% as of March, up from 4.6% a year earlier, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last week.

Walter Pearson, the CEO of College Bound Parenting, an organization that helps Black college students prepare for jobs, said most years he is able to help 90% of the small group of students he works with land their first job. This year, it’s just 50%. Meanwhile, most of the students who spoke to NBC News said they are graduating without job offers and feel uncertain about a future in which they may be overlooked for jobs without specific guardrails in place.

“I can’t really be a part of something that I don’t feel that I’m wanted in,” Rosier said. “So I definitely want to be in a position in which I’m wanted, not where I’m tolerated.”

He plans to leverage his experiences in local and state government by working in grassroots politics in his home state of Maryland. This includes his role as a member of the Maryland Democratic Central Committee, where he will focus on next year’s gubernatorial election.

New grads are entering a tougher job market than those who graduated last year, but even those who did secure internships or jobs told NBC News that DEI rollbacks still weigh on them.

“DEI has been politicized in a way to mean if you’re Black, you don’t deserve a job,” said a Syracuse University student who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions.

The student said he secured a summer internship, but is assessing job opportunities for afterward. While his internship’s company has stated commitments to diversity and inclusion in the job listing, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if these sorts of explicit statements disappeared, followed by actual support for Black workers.

Beyond post-college jobs, funding cuts have made potential research projects for new grads slim.

Grey Snyder, 26, a senior at the University of Missouri at Columbia studying psychology, witnessed these impacts firsthand. Snyder, who uses they/them pronouns, said they tried to secure a lab position for their gap year, but was told that grant funding was so “up in the air” due to Trump’s executive order on DEI that the position was not guaranteed.

Across social media and among the students who spoke to NBC News, several said they had peers and friends who lost out on internships or research opportunities because of cuts like these.

“It’s really affecting psychological sciences specifically, though, and any research about minorities or underprivileged populations,” Snyder said. “It’s really hard to study the people who need the most studying right now.”

If Snyder does not land a research coordinator role at a cognitive neuroscience lab they applied to, they plan to return to a paraprofessional job at an elementary school similar to one they previously had.

For academics and professionals alike, Daniel Catalan, a professional résumé writer, said he’d advise students to consider avoiding certain words that may be red flags under Trump’s DEI directives, including “Black,” “BIPOC” and “DEI.”

Victoria Pearson, a senior at Howard University studying media, journalism and film communications, laughed at the idea of omitting her school from her résumé just because it’s a historically Black university.

Pearson, 22, said she had a conversation with a friend who said they would decline to answer certain questions on an application to avoid being characterized. She disagreed with the move.

“I’m not going to change anything,” Pearson said. “I want to be where I’m wanted.”

The senior at Syracuse said he will also keep all of his accomplishments on his résumé, including his membership with the National Association of Black Journalists.

“I think it should be valued,” he said. “Don’t think it’s not valued just because it has the word Black in front of it.”

Louise Ross is a director of internships, scholarships and mentorships with college prep community and coaching platform College Bound Parenting. Having worked as a chief of human resources for 30 years, she advises students to be innovative in their job search.

Ross urges students to tap into entrepreneurial skill sets, partner with community organizations, contact alumni and leverage connections to the Divine Nine network of Black fraternities and sororities.

“We’ve survived worse things,” Ross said. “These kids survived Covid. They certainly can survive D, E and I.”

The price surge has shifted shoppers’ expectations, and many have begun to make peace with much higher costs, however grudgingly. The average price consumers say they’d pay for a dozen eggs is $5.56, the market research firm Numerator reported last month, up sharply from $4.90 in January. 

“This increased willingness to pay over the past few months indicates consumers are growing accustomed to higher egg prices, either consciously or subconsciously,” the researchers said. 

And it isn’t just eggs: Many shoppers are bracing to pay more for groceries overall as they shift focus toward covering essentials. 

Many are now planning to trim their spending this summer on everything from clothing and furniture to travel, according to a survey the consulting firm KPMG released in late April. Groceries were one of just two categories where shoppers said they expect to spend more. 

“Tariffs have gone from background noise to front and center for consumers — and their grocery receipts show it,” Heather Rice, consumer and retail tax leader at KPMG, said in a statement with the results. “Shoppers are more price-sensitive than ever, and many are connecting rising costs directly to tariffs.” 

Consumer sentiment recently hit a 12-year low in a closely watched Conference Board survey as more households anticipate inflation climbing this year. The annual pace of consumer price increases clocked in at 2.4% in March, down from 2.8% the prior month, but that was before President Donald Trump vastly expanded his global trade war in April.

Many shoppers have already raced to scoop up foreign-made goods, including big-ticket purchases like cars and trucks, to get ahead of import taxes on a broad range of products.

The White House touted progress toward a new trade deal with the U.K. on Thursday, and Trump has repeatedly asserted that “almost all costs,” including eggs and other groceries, have fallen on his watch. But despite revisions, walk-backs and delays to various parts of his trade agenda, the president’s tariffs have already made many products more expensive than they were earlier this year.

Both the NIQ and federal inflation data show ongoing price increases for a range of common purchases. Corporate executives caution that tremendous uncertainty remains over how Trump’s evolving policies will shake out across the consumer economy, and some are already warning of potential price hikes this year.

In the meantime, many sticker prices in supermarkets’ refrigerated aisles are ticking up, rising 2% for chicken breasts and 1% for ground beef in the latest NIQ data since four weeks earlier. Year over year, beef costs nearly 10% more and egg prices nearly 50% more.

But not everything has gotten more expensive. Among the staples surveyed, bacon and orange juice prices have declined.

The prices of many meat and dairy products could continue to swing depending on the course of Trump’s trade war. 

The United States is a major pork producer, for example, and exports about a fifth of that meat overseas, noted Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. About 15% of both U.S. chicken and dairy are typically also shipped abroad — a situation other nations’ retaliatory tariffs now threaten. 

“If those three [product categories] couldn’t find those export markets because of tariff actions and people simply weren’t buying them, that would force the U.S. to keep that product home,” Swanson said, which would likely mean lower prices for shoppers domestically. 

That would be welcome news for consumers but not for farmers. Agricultural exporters are already raising alarms of a “full-blown crisis” as foreign buyers pull back on purchases. Chinese importers recently halted delivery of 12,000 tons of American pork, the biggest such cancellation since 2020. 

For now, Swanson said, “there’s actually more risk of deflation in some categories than inflation in the overall food package, if we have extended trade disputes.”  

That remains a big “if,” though, as the Trump administration angles for a trade deal with Beijing while publicly signaling a hard line on talks. Until any truce is brokered, China still faces an effective U.S. tariff rate of 145% and has hit back with its own duties of up to 125%. 

When it comes to agricultural goods, Swanson noted, “the Chinese do have the ability to pressure us, because they actually buy more from us than we buy from them.”

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