AFL star’s aunt among many in Chicago celebrating Robert Prevost’s move to becoming Pope Leo XIV
Collingwood AFL star Mason Cox has an unexpected family link to the pope’s hometown and church, where many have paid tribute to Leo XIV in Chicago.
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Chicago is a city of deep rivalries – the South Side and North Side, the Cubs and the White Sox, Democrats and Republicans.
But the divided city in a profoundly fractured country called a temporary truce to come together to celebrate one of their own, Robert Francis Prevost, a little boy from a disadvantaged community who became the world’s 267th Pope.
They knelt beside each other to pray for him in the city’s churches, they gathered outside his boyhood home to marvel at his humble beginnings, and they carefully stepped through the decaying church where he discovered his faith as a child.
As the sun rose on the first full day of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, worshippers gathered in the heart of his hometown of Chicago at the Holy Name Cathedral for a celebratory mass.
Peggy Vagenis who, like the Pope was born on the South Side of Chicago, has been a member of the church for years but said this service was different to anything she had ever experienced.
“It has been just such a loving, peaceful, atmosphere as opposed to what we’ve been experiencing here in America,” she said.
“I am so filled with hope today, particularly after this mass.”
Many parishioners were moved to tears as Pastor Larry Sullivan led them in prayer for the new pontiff, wondering at the awe he must have felt as he emerged on the balcony of the Vatican for the first time.
He declared Leo would be an advocate for the poor and the voiceless and would call out injustice in the world.
Estelle Martin has been a member of the congregation for 44 years and said the morning mass had been unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
The Pope’s roots run deep through Illinois but they sprouted in the village of Dolton where he lived as a boy.
South of Chicago’s CBD, the sprawling skyscrapers of the city give way to an industrial area where grass grows through cracks in the concreted median strips littered with broken glass and rubbish.
Past a port, a lumber yard, and dozens of abandoned businesses with windows and doors boarded closed, is East 141st Place where Robert Prevost grew up with his sibling John and Louis and parents Mildred and Louis.
The normally quiet residential street has become a hive of activity as visitors come to see the small brick home currently for sale – it’s been temporarily pulled off the market while the owners reassess its worth.
People take selfies and pose for photos, pressing their palms together as if in prayer and making heart symbols.
One woman boldly marches up the footpath to place her Pomeranian on the front steps and tells him to pose for the cameras, and rumours begin circulating that someone is offering tours of the empty house for thousands of dollars.
Neighbour Donna Sagana has lived next door for eight years and welcomed the visitors, propping open her window with a boom box blasting gospel hymns in stark contrast to the rattle of passing trains blowing their horns.
“I’m really looking forward to the future of Dolton and what this city is going to become,” she said.
Leah Morgan grew up two blocks from Pope Leo and choked up outside the house as she spoke of the community’s struggles with political upheaval and violence.
“But now we have something positive, and with hopefully those newly appointed into the Catholic Church, maybe you can bring more peace to not only Dolton, but to the world.”
Retired Chicagoans John Crowley and wife Terri who is the aunt of American-born Collingwood AFL star Mason Cox, visited the Pope’s home and the nearby church he attended growing up.
Mrs Crowley went to school around the corner and said she hoped the Pope’s working class roots would help him uplift those in need and continue the legacy of Pope Francis.
“We’re truly blessed, words can’t describe it, really,” Mrs Crowley said.
“We really appreciated that he had a global perspective on everything, and we’re really excited about his views on immigration and dedicating his life to the less fortunate people. We really think that those are important qualities for a Pope.”
Across the city, the excitement was palpable among all regardless of their religion, including from a Greek Orthodox taxi driver who said it was “amazing” and the Jehovah’s Witnesses handing out pamphlets to tourists at the city’s Cloud Gate Sculpture, affectionately dubbed The Bean, who said it was a proud moment for Chicago.
Famous Chicago hotdog stand The Wieners Circle also celebrated the news with a cheeky sign written in Latin that reads “He has eaten our dogs.”
The 69-year-old is now Pope Leo XIV, but over his life he has been known to those in this community as Cardinal Robert Prevost, Rob, Robby, Bob – all with varying degrees of the trademark Chicago accent.
At St Rita of Cascia High School where he was a substitute teacher and honorary alumnus, classrooms erupted in cheers as his appointment was announced over the PA system.
Those who knew him said while some kids played cops and robbers, the young Robert played mass, using lollies as wafers and his mother’s ironing board as an altar.
About 1km from the Pope’s former home is his childhood church St Mary of the Assumption which had been shuttered for years.
Graffiti covers the walls, stained glass windows are smashed and foggy with cobwebs and part of the roof has caved in.
The usually sealed doors were thrown open for the steady stream of people who came to visit on Friday.
James Garcia was raised just down the street from the church and stopped to look inside while visiting his aunt who still lives nearby and knew the Pope’s mother.
“This was our family church, when we needed extra chair for parties and stuff we’d borrow them from the church,” he said.
“It’s sad to see in this state, especially with graffiti … but hopefully they will restore the church, that’d be nice if the Archdiocese would bring it back to its original glory.”
The most pressing questions for many Chicagoans was which of its two rival baseball teams the Pope supported.
The Chicago Cubs were quick to claim the new Pope as one of their own scrawling “Hey Chicago, he’s a Cubs fan!” on the marquee at Wrigley Field.
But his brother John Prevost quickly cleared up the debate, telling a local Chicago news channel that “Bob, I mean Leo”, still grappling with his sibling’s new name, had always been a Sox fan and was “never ever” a Cubs fan.
The White Sox had the worst season in Major-league Baseball history in 2024 and rival Cubs fans including Mr Crowley were gracious in the disappointing news – “well the Sox definitely need divine intervention more than we do”.
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