In Celebration of Pope Leo XIV

Happy Birthday Pope Leo XIV!

It's a particularly special milestone as he reaches 70.

This occasion reminds us of how it's a remarkable time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church with the first US-born Pope.

In the time between the passing of Pope Francis and the elction of Pope Leo XIV was my final class of hte 2024-25 RE year.  Typically, at hte start of class, during our opening pryarer time, we would pray for the Pope, who had been Francis ever since I started teaching.

At this class, I began acknowleding the vacancy. One student asked me who I thought the next Pope would be.  I wasn't too familiar with the top contenders, and I responded by saying, "I think God is goign to give us a surprise", based on the surprises that had come for the past few Popes.

Then came the day the white smoke appeared, which was right around my lunch break at work.  It was stirring to watch the announcement from the loggia, and similar to the elction of Pope Francis, I wasn't able to catch the name imediately.  But others sure did, and soon the excitement ensued as we met Pope Leo XIV.

I was profoundly struck by his first words of introduction: "La pace sia con tutti voi!" That phrase is Itlian for "Peace be with you all!"  As he then related, those were the first words of the Risen Christ to the disciples.  Seeing as how we were in the middle of the Easter Season 2025, I was amazed to hear such a statement that connects with the liturgical season at hand.  Furthermore, the life of the Risen Christ is present in the Church and we live that life in this world.

When I heard he selected the name Leo, I thought about Leo XIII.  St. Mother Katharine Drexel had an audience with him and asked him to provide missionaries to serve Native Americans and African-Americans, and he told her to be the missionary.  One of the missions she founded was St. Augustine Mission in Nebraska, where I spent a week of service.

As for his part in the Augustinian order, I think about Confessions, and St. Augustine's powerful line of how we're made for God, and we are only at rest when we rest in Him.  This idea of restlessness, based on what I've heard from Father Tom McCarthy, is that we're constantly striving for God and seeking to realize Him in the circumstances of our world and our lives.

Pope Leo XIII addressed issues related to labor during his papacy.  So far in his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has done so much to address issues of our day, like AI.  He's also given great messages in his homilies to ecnourage the faithful to answer the call to holiness in their lives, especially at the Concluding Mass of the Jubilee of Youth and the Canonization Mass for Saints Piergiorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis.

What surfaced quickly with his election was how astounding it was that he was the first person born in the USA to be elected Pope.  There was a wide consensus that someone from the US wouldn't be elected Pope because of how prominent the USA is in world affairs.  However, Pope Leo XIV, while born in the USA, served for many years in South America, and I think that gave him a broad perspective to have lived on both continents before getting a position at the Vatican.

Furthermore, he has a broad perspective from being born in Chicago, at the crossroads of the USA.  Chicago is in the central part of the USA, with many people and goods passing through the area.  We experience a variety of weather here in the range of four seasons.  From this area, Robert Prevost would go on to serve the church in so many ways, in South America, in his function as an Augustinian priest and then a bishop.  Then, he would go to serve at the Vatican, and surely he got to know the breadth of the worldwide Church from serving in his position as the Dicastery of Bishops.  In the wake of his election, many noted that serving in this role helped him to become so well known in the leadership of the church.  So, yes, he was born in the USA, but also has a wealth of other experience throughout the Americas that I feel has made him suited to shepherd the whole Church.  

At first, I wasn't sure how to take in the reality that someone born in Chicago was elected Pope.  For me, it sank in more deeply when I attended a special celebration held at Guaranteed Rate Field on June 14 hosted by the Archdiocese of Chicago.  There were people who spoke who had known Pope Leo XIV and testified about who he is as a person.  It was also a great time of celebration with so much wonderful music, both in the program during the first part of the event, and then during Mass, which happened later.  I enjoyed the performance of the Leo High School Choir, and I've listened to their performance at the event numerous times.  Espeically memorable was being present for his first message broadcast to a US audience.  As a seasoned catechist, I was glad to hear him offer a message especially for young people, with words that are encouraging to all of us, as he spoke out going within to sense God's presence within us.

I am so excited that I was able to attend, and be part of celebrating a famous son of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  It happened on the weekend of Trinity Sunday, and it was a great time to celebrate who we are as as a people and make known the reality of the mystery of the Trinity in our relationships with each other in the Church community, even as broad as the Archdiocese of Chicago and the whole Church universal.  Being at a sports stadium, reminded me of attending sessions of the National Eucharistic Congress inside Lucas Oil Stadium, as I remarked to Sarah Tafoya of Relevant Radio when I saw her.  Indeed, it's amazing the first US-born people was born right in Chicago and grew up in the southern suburbs.

To celebrate his birthday, I went to visit some places associated with him.  First, I went to 10:30 Mass at Christ our Savior Parish in South Holland, the successor parish of his home parish.  I was glad that we sang Happy Birhtday for him at the end of Mass, and it sounded so grand on the organ.  Next, I drove to Homewood to eat at Aurelio's Pizza, which is his favorite pizza.  I even got to sit in the Pope's Chair in the restaurant.  Following lunch, I drove to his childhood home in Dolton.  There had been earlier in the day, unbeknowsted to me, a birthday celebration for him, and balloons were still present.  Lastly, I went to see St. Mary's Church, his home parish.  Hopefully the building can be renovated and opened again for people to visit.

I've passed by that area numerous times, including visits to Valparaiso.  It was special to pull of I-94 and go in-depth to experience these suburbs, to gain better insight into someone who was one of us, and built immensely upon his Chicagoland roots into a great bloom that reached all the way to the Vatican, that the world may be blessed.