Chicago’s south side celebrates as hometown cardinal becomes Pope Leo XIV

HOMEWOOD — From a Southside Chicago parish to a suburban pizza parlor, people are remembering when and where they crossed paths with Robert Francis Prevost.

Prevost grew up in Dolton. He returned to the south suburbs just nine months ago gathering with friends and family at his favorite pizza place.

“I didn’t know the day he came because he didn’t announce, ‘Hey I’m the cardinal,’” Joe Aurelio of Aurelio’s Pizza said.

Back in August, family and old friends took photos with then Cardinal Robert Prevost at Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood.

Fast forward to yesterday, he was selected to lead the Catholic Church as the 267th pope.

“All the employees went crazy. They started texting and calling me, ‘Can you believe it? He was just here a few months ago,’” Aurelio said.

The now famous photo with the unassuming future pope, like divine intervention, is inspiring a new creation — Aurelio’s newly trademarked “Pope-A-Roni Pizza.”

The restaurant is even featuring what they’re calling the “Pope Chair.” Customers who want to sit in it can make that request.

In Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood, the kids of St. Gabriel’s Parish at 45th and Lowe are still buzzing over Chicago’s Southside pope.

“It just erupted. We were screaming, clapping, and we were so excited,” a child at St. Gabriel’s Parish said.

In 2015, Prevost, then a bishop, presided over a Confirmation that almost didn’t happen if not for John Prevost, his brother and the school’s principal.

“The bishop that was set to come here had to attend a funeral downtown so the principal just called his brother and said would you be able to step in?” current principal Julie Jurisic said.

The children of St. Gabe’s are sending a message of love to the new pope, yelling “St. Gabriel loves Pope Leo.”