Chicago – When Sherry Stone learned that the childhood friend Robert Prevost was chosen the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, he went up to his computer and did what few people can do: he sent an email with a congratulations note.
“I told him that we are thinking of having our next primary school meeting at the Vatican,” he said.
The newly chosen Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, heading to the crowd of the main central balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro for the first time, after the cardinals ended with the conclave, in the Vatican. May 8, 2025.
Vatican Media/AFP through Getty Images
The election of a former Hyde Parker named Barack Obama to the White House in 2009 catapulted this city to a cheerful frenzy for months, and having produced a president remains a source of pride.
When the news was learned on Thursday on Premost’s elections as the first American Pope, mood throughout the city was similar. Immediately, the memes became viral showing Pope Leo XIV holding a Hot Dog, immersing his Italian beef in sauce and grabbing a bottle of illness, the unofficial liquor of the city. Out of Wrigley Field, the Chicago puppies marked the moment announcing their legendary sign: “Hi Chicago, he is a fan of puppies!” Similarly, Bennison, a bakery in Evanston, just north of the city, announced a new sugar cookie with the prestation similarity he promised was “as divine as the moment.”
The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, issued a statement by calling the “historical” news.
“Pope Leo XIV intensifies in a new chapter that I join those of our state at a time when we need compassion, unity and peace,” he said.
The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, used the news to send a more informal message to the new Pope: “Everything Dope, including the Pope, comes from Chicago!” He published in X. “Congratulations to the first American Pope Leo XIV! We hope to welcome him home soon.”
While Leo spent two decades in northern Peru, where he became bishop and naturalized citizen, his first roots are on the southwest side, an area known for his legacy of steel factories and automatic plants, fans of the white socks and Blackhawks, rows of brick bungalows and churches of neighborhoods and first schools.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Leo attended St. Mary’s de la Asunción, a primary school now closed on the edge of the city, and grew up in Dolton, a suburb of the southwest located on the other side of the street of the school. He later obtained his divinity teacher in 1982 of the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park, which is located throughout the lake, and was ordered the same year. He began his ministry with the Augustinian province of Chicago and later was appointed general prior of the World Augustinian Order, according to the Catholic Theological Union.
The Reverend William Lego, who is also a member of the Augustinian order, attended primary school, high school and seminar with Leo before both men became young priests. He said Thursday that he is still getting used to calling “Father Bob” for his new name.
“He was always very intelligent, he never came to conclusions, he sustained people with respect and listened. I am sure that this will bring the papacy,” Lego said.
As for his shared roots in Chicago, Lego added: “There will always be a note of pride.”
A bishop dances with an American flag, after the announcement that the American cardinal Robert Prevost has been chosen by the conclave as the new Pope, with the name of Pope Leo XIV, in the Vatican, on May 8, 2025.
Eloisa López/Reuters
As with Obama, many locals have a personal connection with Leo. Because their last names ended with a “P” at that time, Nadia Weer sat next to Leo for eight years in the classroom. She said that even then she was so devout and studied that her nickname was “Father Robert.”
“We always assume that he would be a priest,” he said. “It was true blue. It was fine. I’m really proud of him. You like people to succeed when they deserve it. And Robert deserves it.”
The intensity that Leo had with his faith, even when he was a child, impressed Stone, who said he once told people that he wanted to eventually lead the Church as Pope.
“People in the west are very caled. I think having grown up in that environment that he will be a centralist Pope. He will link people. It will be one of the great potatoes,” he said.
Leo’s brother, John Prevost, told ABC News on Thursday that Leo never “questioned” his vocation in life and that, when he was a child, he often “played priest” using the ironing board as his altar.
“I don’t think I thought about anything else,” said John Prevost.
Many remembered Leo’s family as a dedicated dedicated to their faith. His father, director of the school on the southern Chicago side, volunteered in the Archdiocese of Chicago in the 1990s. Janet Sisler, associated superintendent of schools for the archdiocese at that time, recalled that “Father Bob” would pass through here when he returned to his hometown.
It was obvious, there was “family history of being dedicated to his faith and dedicated to service,” he said. “He grew up in that life and continued to imbue the decisions of his life with the service of faith and the promotion of justice.”
Chicago’s roots in the labor movement were probably an influence.
“He came from a family where both his mother and his father worked. He understood how people can have the commitment to work the family and their faith,” he said. “This is a new Pope who understands the importance of the community and the importance of the Church interacting in a positive way to serve the world.”
