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Challenges facing the Catholic church in America require leaders to be "real" and not "get caught up in living in our own little bubble of an idea," newly appointed Chicago archbishop Blase Cupich told NCR in an interview Sunday.

The 65-year-old pastor's ascent to the Chicago archdiocese -- the nation's third largest and historically one of its most important -- has captivated the Catholic world in the United States and represents a potentially important shift in the direction for the U.S. bishops' conference, observers say. One privately called it an "ecclesial earthquake."

Indeed, on the hot-button cultural issues that some have faulted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for "obsessing" over since the time of Pope John Paul II, Cupich has earned a reputation for offering calm, cool, caring commentary.

Additionally, he has shown an ability to communicate Pope Francis' messages on economic markets and to balance the full sweep of Catholic social teaching.

"This is a Pope Francis bishop," said Georgetown University's John Carr, who for 20 years served as director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the USCCB. He said Cupich has "humble ways, a powerful commitment to the poor, a collaborative style, [and is] nonconfrontational."

Carr, who attended seminary with Cupich in the late 1960s and early '70s, described a man who believes in the power of dialogue and seeks to understand people where they are in the world.

"He has experience with Native Americans in South Dakota, he has experience with migrants in eastern Washington -- that's a part of him now," Carr said. "He has always been smart, always a leader. He's principled. He listens, he learns, he reads, he prays, he leads."

So it comes as no surprise that Cupich's ascension has energized progressive Catholics who want to see Pope Francis' style permeate the American church. The feeling in the air is that he represents a new day.

But what will it take to break past the culture wars within the bishops' conference?

A compare-and-contrast between Cupich and the man he is replacing, Cardinal Francis George, who was president of the bishops' conference from 2007 to 2010, gives a sense of what the new archbishop may be up against.

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As Chicago archbishop, Cupich may face culture war mentality