Daily Herald opinion: A Chicago pontiff: New pope’s origins are a source of pride, but it is his mission that resonates

Even for Catholics around the world, there is a kind of significance to the birthplace of Pope Leo XIV. America is not some much-heralded European country with centuries of Catholic prominence nor a benign player on the world stage.

And Chicago is not an unfamiliar city without a distinctive reputation — even if that reputation tilts unsteadily between the influences of Barack Obama and Al Capone.

But for the 133 cardinals voting last week in the Sistine Chapel, it was not national origin but global spirit that mattered in the selection of the Church’s 267th pope a quarter of the way into the 21st century.

While that observation may ring true even in the Chicago region, for Catholics and non-Catholics alike here, it seems impossible to separate the theological identity of one of the world’s most influential religious leaders from his secular roots as a White Sox fan from the South Side.

“Oftentimes you just think … the pope is somewhere over there in Europe, and it's a very distant place,” the Rev. Burke Masters, the Catholic chaplain for the Chicago Cubs and pastor of St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale, told our Katlyn Smith, “but having somebody with local connections just makes it more real.”

In the immediate aftermath of Robert Prevost’s elevation to the papacy, “more real” has taken light-hearted forms. Bakers have created Chicago-related cookies with the new pope’s image. Businesses sell Chicago-pontiff T-shirts and tote bags. Online memes speculate about the pope’s view on ketchup with hot dogs. Suburban-born Portillo’s christened an Italian beef sandwich “The Leo” in his honor — “finished with the holy trinity of peppers — sweet, hot or a combo,” in the words of a company press release.

Yet, it is the serious, spiritual aspect of Pope Leo’s heritage that most captivates the public’s interest and hopes, whether in Chicago or around the world, and the general descriptions of his values are filled with promise.

Whether from his brother John in New Lenox or the heart of the Vatican, his priorities are said to focus on everyday people, especially those in need. And they resonated in his first address to the world as pope.

“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive,” he told the throng at St. Peter’s Basilica welcoming his appointment Thursday, “… to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.”

He begins, then, with a welcome message and reputation that supersede his birthplace. And they come at a time when — amid various wars with global consequences, political strife roiling countries on nearly every continent and the incursion of powerful technologies challenging cultural norms everywhere — it seems the world could not need it more.

In the words of the Very Rev. Gregory Sakowicz, rector of Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, “You can’t deny where you’re from or (the) part of who you are from the neighborhood, and that’s just part of who he is. But believe me, he will be open to the whole world, and he will listen, and listen, and dialogue.”

So, while here in Chicago we may be swelling with a definite pride of association in Cardinal Robert Prevost’s origins, we certainly also join the world in embracing his spirit and praying for his success as Pope Leo XIV.