Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, Grew Up in Dolton as Vatican Cancels U.S. Trips

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert “Bob” Prevost and described as “Da Pope” by National Catholic Reporter, grew up in the Chicago suburb of Dolton and is a devoted White Sox fan with a penchant for pepperoni pizza. The Vatican announced in February that there will be no papal trips to the United States this year and, therefore, to his hometown. The National Catholic Reporter piece also points to the scale of past Chicago welcomes, noting that Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Grant Park on Oct. 5, 1979 with 250,000 communicants served by 600 priests. It adds that Chicagoans have “great fun proudly proclaiming Pope Leo XIV né Robert ‘Bob’ Prevost as one of their own” since his surprise election last year.

“It was a class reunion like no other”

Chicago Tribune

In a separate account, Father Tom McCarthy—an Augustinian friar from the south side of Chicago who has known Robert Francis Prevost for forty-three years—told a parish men’s club story about a phone call from the Vatican. The teller asked security questions, and when she realized the caller’s identity, she apologized and then asked: “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” The story says the teller “hung up on him,” and it frames the episode as a portrait of a pope who is “an extraordinarily ordinary man.” McCarthy’s telling also includes that the pope writes back to him signing off with a single “L,” sometimes “Leo,” and that McCarthy still slips back to “Bob” when he tells stories from the years before the white cassock.

As Pope Leo XIV approaches one year in the role, OSV News says Americans continue to feel drawn to him, with attention on his message of peace and dedication to the faith. After Easter morning Mass, Victoria Mendez and her family stopped to talk by the heavy bronze doors of St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Church on Chicago’s South Side, where the parish is run by Augustinians. Mendez said, “I think we’ve seen a lot of people fall in love with Catholicism, seeing that their pope is from Chicago,” and she added that she has “the sense Pope Leo is drawing interest in the faith.” OSV News also ties the pope’s peace message to the war in Iran that the U.S. and Israel began Feb. 28, saying Mendez pointed out Pope Leo’s message is “more vehement” because of that war.

““Would It Matter If I Told You I’m Pope Leo”

Letters from Leo