‘What we need’: Suburban Catholics praise selection of Pope Leo XIV

Suburban Catholics gathering for their first Sunday Mass since Chicago native Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV voiced optimism and enthusiasm for the new pontiff.

At Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Arlington Heights, the new pope’s picture graced the cover of the church bulletin. Parishioners said they were pleased not only to have an American pope, but one with Chicago-area roots.

“It brought a tear to my eye,” said Jennifer Rezny, who was attending Sunday Mass with her husband, Christopher. “When my husband walked in the house and said, 'It's white smoke,' he said, 'Maybe it'll be an American,' and I said, 'I don't think so, not in my lifetime.'”

Eleven-year-old Liam Neihengen of Arlington Heights even had a baseball-style trading card of the new pope.

“He's from Chicago. He's a Bears fan, so I feel like that's good,” Liam said. “He's a White Sox fan, and my Little League baseball team is the White Sox, so that's also good.”

“I love all the memes going around with him,” Arlington Heights resident Beth Samikkannu added. “I sent them to all my family. ‘Da Pope.’”

Our Lady of the Wayside Deacon Peter LeTourneau predicted Pope Leo XIV would be a bridge builder, pointing out the significance of his chosen name.

“The last Leo, Leo XIII, was during the Industrial Revolution, and he wrote the encyclical for workers' rights,” he said.

During Mass, LeTourneau prayed “that our newly elected Holy Father, Pope Leo, may be a champion of the poor, a reconciler of divisions and a force for peace and unity in our world.”

Both LeTourneau and Our Lady of the Wayside’s pastor, the Rev. Arthur Marat, said it is important that Leo is rooted in the teachings of St. Augustine.

Marat said he was a teenager in Poland when Karol Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II. He compared that moment to an American rising to become Pope.

Several parishioners said he would stand up for the downtrodden.

“I think he’s a pope who remembers the disenfranchised and the poor, from what I’ve heard about his work in Peru,” Samikkannu said. “Those people are going to have a voice through him.”

At St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Emily Alport noted the new pope’s apparent alignment with his predecessor, Pope Francis.

“I felt like (Pope Francis) was just really accepting. I think he had a message of love for everyone,” she said.

“He’s a kind man. You can see it in his face,” Nancy Buschey, a Wisconsin resident visiting family and attending church at St. James, said of Pope Leo XIV. “That’s what we need.”