Almost immediately after the Tribune published an article Thursday mentioning that the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV had dined with old friends at Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood months prior, Joe Aurelio said his friends, family — and what eventually felt like the whole country — started chiming in.
“The world’s calling right now,” Aurelio, the pizza chain’s president and CEO, said Friday in between interviews with local TV stations and Australian reporters.
“It’s just amazing that this little town of Homewood is on the world’s map right now for something that the pope is directly connected with,” Aurelio continued. “He blessed us all just by being here. I’m Catholic too so it’s really a blessing and an honor to have this connection.”
The Chicago roots of missionary Robert Prevost weren’t lost on the popular restaurant. Between a cross-town baseball rivalry for papal support, billboards and many memes, frankly, his upbringing hasn’t been lost on much of the city. Chicagoans have predictably reacted in grandiose fashion with humor and genuine affection for the South Sider as he begins heading the Catholic Church.
Prevost was born in 1955 at Mercy Hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood, and grew up in south suburban Dolton with his parents and two brothers. He attended school and served as an altar boy at the St. Mary of the Assumption parish on the Far South Side, where one classmate remembered him as a good singer who “cared about people” and “looked for the good in things.”
Aurelio doesn’t know for sure but he said there’s a good chance Prevost grew up on his family’s pizza. The Homewood restaurant has been open since 1959, and was one of the few pizzerias around in those days, he said. Prevost reportedly ate at the restaurant in August to catch up with old friends after visiting the area to speak to parishioners at St. Jude Catholic Church in south suburban New Lenox.
In what also felt like a “full circle moment,” Aurelio said his father used to host the priests from the former Tolentine Monastery in Olympia Fields — where young men trained to enter the Augustinian Order, which Prevost belongs to — for dinner and beer once a month.
“(Prevost) is just a true Chicagoan, so I’m sure he’s eaten at a lot of places around the city and the suburbs,” Aurelio said. “I’m just glad I’m one of those, and proud to be the Pope’s pizza. I look forward to trying to ship some pizzas out to the Vatican”
Aurelio said he plans to sell “pope-erroni” pizza soon, and has already named the “Pope Leo XIV table.” As a fellow Catholic, he said he hopes Prevost is able to bring about peace and help “everybody like each other again,” adding that his selection shows that “anything could happen.”
‘He’s a Sox Fan!’
It wasn’t Prevost’s pizza loyalties that stirred up the most debate across the city, however. Seemingly false reports popped up that Prevost was a Cubs fan, prompting Wrigley Field to change its marquee to “Hey Chicago, He’s a Cubs fan!”
Prevost’s brother cleared up the misconception later though, telling the Tribune that the new pope has “always” been a White Sox fan. “Hey Chicago, He’s a Sox Fan!” then appeared on the marquee at Rate Field. A pinstripe jersey with his name on it and a hat are on its way to Rome, the Sox said in a statement.
Some commenters remarked that Prevost’s support of the team is fitting, adding that he’s “a true advocate for the downtrodden.” The Sox finished last season with the record for the most losses in Major League Baseball’s modern era, after all.
“Chicagoans love Chicago, and so they’re going to fix right on that,” said Michael Murphy, director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University. “(Prevost) is a bridge builder, since his mom was a Cubs fan, his dad was a Cardinals fan, but as a true South Sider he’s a Sox fan.”
When Prevost was announced as pope, Murphy said he almost fell out of his chair in shock, and then shed a couple of tears. Murphy also had dinner with Prevost last August at the Ivy Restaurant in Wheaton to talk about the school’s Building Bridges Initiative. He found the now-pope to be a “true gentleman,” humble, intelligent and warm.
Murphy emphasized, however, that Prevost is very much a “global citizen” who also has deep ties to Peru, where he spent a significant part of his career. Murphy said Prevost isn’t known for “amplified patriotism” rather as a “connector,” which likely made him an attractive pick for the cardinals. He’s the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the church.
“America is in a new situation, and I think that this election is a masterstroke to temper the excesses of the current administration,” Murphy said. “It’ll assert a moral voice from very nearby that will be hard to ignore.”
‘Da Pope’
Prevost’s dual nationalities haven’t stopped Chicagoans from having fun on social media. One person posted a picture of Prevost with the words “god bless everyone in the world, except Green Bay.” Someone else posted “anyone wanna join me for a toast to our new Chicago pope?” with a photo of Malört.
T-shirts calling him “Da Pope” are already for sale. Portillo’s introduced an Italian beef sandwich called “The Leo” to its menu, and the Wieners Circle, the famed hot dog stand in Lincoln Park known for its viral insults and profanities, also debuted a new sign — one that required a working knowledge of Latin to understand.
“Canes nostros ipse comedit,” it said.
Translation — “He has eaten our dogs.”
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