Daily Herald opinion: The ‘Leo effect’: Local pride lingers as Chicago native Pope Leo XIV marks his first year

One year ago today, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel to herald the election of a new pope.

The excitement that followed hit home intensely in Chicago and the suburbs with the revelation that the new pope was not only the first American to be chosen to lead the Catholic Church, but also one of our own.

Pope Leo XIV — formerly Robert Prevost — was born in Chicago and grew up in suburban Dolton.

As details emerged, Chicagoans cheered the pope’s loyalty to the White Sox, local priests shared stories of their experiences with him and hopes rose that the pontiff might visit Chicago, a place bursting with pride over his local ties.

“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 last year, “but having somebody with local connections just makes it more real.”

It does. And, for many, more fun.

Bakers created cookies with the new pope’s image. Businesses sold “Da Pope” shirts in Bears colors. Portillo’s named an Italian beef sandwich in his honor. And The Onion ran a doctored photo of the pontiff — nestled in a poppy seed bun and topped with mustard — under the headline “Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope.”

Though Pope Leo has lived much of his life in Peru and Italy, he has made clear that he has not forgotten his roots.

During a special Mass organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago last June at Rate Field, thousands watched the pope deliver a message of hope. In a video broadcast, projected on the Jumbotron, he joked that he would remember his words that day as “the sermon on the mound.”

Earlier this spring, at the start of Holy Week, Pope Leo met at the Vatican with a delegation of Illinois mayors who spoke afterward of the experience to our Chris Placek.

“I asked him, hopefully he can help out the White Sox,” said Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens said at the time, “and he said, ‘Well, they could use a few more wins,’ and I said, ‘Well, they got the right guy here.’”

Elmwood Park Mayor Angelo “Skip” Saviano, meanwhile, brought with him a print from White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf of the pontiff’s video appearance and an Elmwood Park Police Department chaplain badge, designating the pope as the force’s honorary chaplain.

“He got a big kick out of it. … He’s just a regular neighborhood guy,” Saviano said. “As educated and as worldly as he is, I think he likes the opportunity to come down to his roots.”

That he’s one of us — a local guy who likes pepperoni pizza and baseball — is part of his approachable appeal. But people are also drawn to his themes of peace, service, caring for the poor and preservation of “human dignity” in an age of artificial intelligence.

Though the first American-born pope, he has clearly set his focus on the world at large, declining invites to the U.S. thus far and opting to spend July 4 of this year — our nation’s 250th birthday — on a small Italian island that's known as a stopping point for migrants sailing to Europe.

Plus, he’s shown that he is not afraid of controversy, speaking out against U.S. immigration policy and the war in Iran. His recent comments about the war have drawn the wrath of President Donald Trump, putting him in the company of countless others who’ve dared to disagree with the president.

Observers have noted that Pope Leo has brought a new energy, sometimes called the “Leo effect,” to the church. That’s especially true in the city he once called home.

So will he return here for a visit some day? Anything is possible in a world where a Sox fan from Chicago grows up to be pope.