VATICAN CITY — After Chicago native Pope Leo XIV made history as the first American elected pontiff, the Rev. Homero Sánchez sent him a quick text saying, “Congratulations Holy Pope.”
The priest from St. Rita of Cascia Parish on the city’s Southwest Side went to bed that night not expecting an immediate reply from the newly selected leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide — even if he had been his friend, mentor and Augustinian brother for the past 15 years.
Yet when Sánchez awoke around 1 a.m. Friday and reflexively checked his phone, there was a response.
Hours after Robert Francis Prevost was named the successor of St. Peter, the 267th pope texted Sánchez three emojis of hands pressed together in prayer, followed by a few words in Spanish that translated to “blessings, a hug.”
“Honestly, the first thing I thought was ‘that can’t be real,’” Sánchez said. “Just the fact that he replied made me think that he is still our brother…. Can you imagine? The pope is taking the time to acknowledge me.”
Now Sánchez is elated to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, marking the official start of his papacy. He flew into Rome on Thursday and is staying with several other Chicago-area friends of the new pope who also made the journey.
“I want to be there for him,” the priest said. “He needs our prayers.”
Like Sánchez, many Chicago-area Catholics are making the nearly 4,000-mile pilgrimage to the Vatican to witness the inauguration Mass and other papal events this month, eager to celebrate one of their own rising to become Catholicism’s spiritual leader.
Some travelers scrambled to book last-minute airfare and rapidly evaporating accommodations to attend the liturgical service, which is expected to draw a litany of global faith leaders and world dignitaries, including Vice President JD Vance, who is leading an American delegation there.
Some were fortunate to already be in Rome on trips scheduled long before white smoke poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on May 8, signaling the papal conclave had chosen a new pope.
Others, unable to travel so far on such short notice, plan to watch livestreams of the Mass and pray for the new Holy Father from home.
A few days before the ceremony, St. Peter’s Square was bustling with throngs of international tourists, dotted by an occasional priest or nun passing by. Several large screens for the expected overflow crowds lined Via della Conciliazione, the avenue linking the square to the Tiber River.
During his whirlwind trip, Sánchez has been sightseeing at historic churches, shopping for souvenirs for his parishioners and spending time with his fellow Augustinians at the General Curia of the Order of Saint Augustine, where Prevost had lived for more than a decade when he served as prior general, the leader of Augustinians worldwide.
The priest said it was important for him to be present in the crowd on Sunday, to support the pope.
“I want to be there because I am grateful for the compassion that he showed to me,” he said.
When Sánchez transferred from Mexico to Chicago years ago, Prevost offered him guidance as he acclimated to a new culture and language.
The priest described Prevost — a 69-year-old longtime Augustinian missionary — as a hard worker who “brings humility to the top.”
Years ago, Prevost’s father helped to fund a new seminary in Trujillo, Peru, where his son served as a missionary; there’s a plaque in the chapel of the seminary commemorating the donation, Sánchez recalled.
At the time, Prevost was working as a professor by day and would help construct the seminary in the evenings.
“He was physically building,” the priest said. “He was not the person who would kind of watch how they would build. No, he was grabbing the shovel and doing what he has to do. … It was hard work.”
Pope Leo XIV will be an approachable leader who will listen to different perspectives and relate to all kinds of people, Sánchez predicted. He will prioritize the poor and marginalized.
“This is not a fancy pope that we have,” the priest said. “We have a person who has made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. And has lived them out in his own life.”
Discernment, deepening faith
Loyola University Chicago student Caleb Ham strolled past the iconic 84-foot-high Vatican Obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, surrounded by the site’s iconic elliptical colonnades, which represent the Catholic Church embracing humanity. A hundred and forty statues of Catholic saints decorate the top, gazing down at the piazza below.
The 19-year-old has been studying abroad in Rome since August. While his freshman year ended earlier this month, Ham extended his stay so he could attend the pope’s inaugural Mass.
“The installation really just makes it fully official,” Ham said. “I’m so excited to see that.”
While in high school, Ham contemplated becoming a priest and would spend a weekend each month at a nearby seminary to discern his faith.
For now, he’s decided attending university is the best path, but opted to spend his first year of school in Rome to deepen his spirituality.
Ham sometimes visits St. Peter’s Square at night, when the piazza is quieter and the majestic colonnades are illuminated in the darkness. He often marvels that he’s able to be in such close proximity to the pope.
When Pope Francis was hospitalized with pneumonia earlier this year, Ham would stop outside Rome’s Gemelli Hospital to recite the rosary for the pontiff, who died the day after Easter.
As white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney earlier this month, Ham and his fellow Loyola students sprinted to St. Peter’s Square to watch as Pope Leo XIV first stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The news that the pontiff was American seemed wild, he recalled.
But when the Loyola students learned more about the Holy Father’s roots, they started jumping up and down, shouting, “He’s from Chicago!”
Ham said he feels closer to the pope because he’s attending school in the place of his birth. Ham looks forward to seeing the pontiff’s childhood home, the site of his former church and walking “in the steps of the pope” in the Chicago area when he returns to campus.
As Ham prepares to leave Rome, he still hasn’t settled the question of whether he’ll one day attend seminary.
“It’s always something to keep in my mind as a possibility,” he added.
‘Blessed from birth’
Louis Prevost believes his mother and father would be overjoyed if they had lived to see their youngest child become pope.
Growing up in south suburban Dolton, the close-knit Catholic family recited the rosary together every night, he recalled. His mother attended Mass daily at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish on the Far South Side. On days off from school, Robert Prevost — the youngest of three sons — would voluntarily go with her.
His desire to enter the priesthood came at a very young age.
In second grade, one of the nuns at St. Mary’s declared, “Robert Francis, I think you’re going to be pope one day,” recalled Louis Prevost, 73, in a telephone interview with the Tribune from his Florida home. “When I heard that, as his older brother, the teasing did not stop. He had that something about him. Way back then.”
When the cardinal came to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to announce the name of the new pope earlier this month, the wait “felt like an eternity,” for the older brother, who watched a livestream from home.
“When he started getting to the ‘Roberto’ part, I’m 99.99% sure it’s going to be my brother,” Louis Prevost said. “When he said ‘Francisco,’ that sealed the deal.”
The older brother began jumping on the bed in exhilaration, doing a “silly little kid dance” at the news.
“It was just incredible,” he said. “I can’t put into words what it feels like to see and hear that my little brother has just become pope of the church. It’s mind-blowing.”
In Pope Leo XIV’s first public address, he invoked peace, bridge-building and unity. Louis Prevost recalled that his brother had a knack for diplomacy, even as a child.
While in grade school, the older brother once convinced him to ride bikes in a section of the forest preserve where they weren’t supposed to go. They were approached by five or six “unscrupulous characters” who were armed with knives and demanded that they give up their bicycles, Louis Prevost recalled.
The older brother began preparing to fight in self-defense.
But the younger brother “gets off his bike and says ‘wait,’ and goes over there and talks to those guys. And in five minutes all the knives were put away. And they’re laughing and telling us they want to be our friends,” Louis Prevost said.
Later, Louis Prevost asked his younger brother what words he used to de-escalate the situation.
“I just talked to them,” he recalled his brother responding. “That was my first real life encounter with this magic touch he has,” the older brother said, laughing.
As of Tuesday, Louis Prevost said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to attend his brother’s inaugural Mass; he said he received a call from Vance’s office that morning asking if he’d like to travel to the Vatican as a guest of the White House, but Louis Prevost wasn’t sure if he’d be able to find last-minute lodging in Rome.
The family’s middle son, 71-year-old John Prevost of New Lennox, already has visited their youngest brother since he became pontiff, and recently returned to the Chicago area from Vatican City.
Louis Prevost said if he can’t be there in person for the inaugural Mass, he’ll be supporting his brother in spirit from across the globe.
“He never wavered, from very young to this very day,” Louis Prevost added. “It’s like he was blessed from birth.”
‘Least among us’
At the upcoming inaugural Mass, Cardinal Blase Cupich predicts the new pope will share more about his choice in selecting the name Leo.
Scholars have noted that his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, was known for his defense of the rights of working people.
The new pope “has spoken about that around the edges, but I think that we’re going to hear more about that this coming Sunday,” said the Archbishop of Chicago during a recent phone interview.
Cupich, as part of the conclave, had watched Pope Leo XIV’s first moments as pontiff from an adjacent balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica earlier this month, as some 250,000 people cheered below.
He called that scene “exhilarating.”
“To see those wonderful arms of the colonnade of St Peter’s actually embrace the crowd that was there gave me a sense of how unified humanity can be, particularly at a time when there’s enormous polarization and division in the world today,” he said.
The cardinal is scheduled to return to Vatican City for the inaugural Mass; he anticipates a similar spirit will permeate the faithful gathered there on Sunday.
“There is so much that unites us that we should pay attention to,” he said. “I hope the experience on Sunday will be another opportunity for us to appreciate that.”
The Rev. Martin Connell had already planned to be in Rome this week. The dean of Arrupe College at Loyola University Chicago brought 10 students on an annual trip to tour Catholic pilgrimage sites; they quickly changed their plans for Sunday so they’ll be able attend the inaugural Mass.
Connell intends to show them a statue in St. Peter’s Square that moved him the last time he was in the Vatican. The 20-foot bronze sculpture titled “Angels Unawares” depicts a boat of diverse immigrants and refugees. It was unveiled by Pope Francis in 2019.
“In the middle of this wonderful spot, the magnificence of this square and of the Basilica itself, it is a reminder: Be careful. Don’t let your eyes miss something really important. And it is this. The least among us,” Connell said.
The priest and academic believes Pope Leo XIV will in many ways follow the trajectory of Pope Francis, showing a similar commitment to care for immigrants, refugees and others who are often overlooked or disparaged.
“But Pope Leo is not stepping into a shadow. He’s stepping into his own light,” Connell added. “He’s been shaped by a different charism, different experiences and a different moment in the church world than it was when Pope Francis began leading in 2013. I’m certain that these gospel values, which are perennial, are going to be part of his pontificate. What that looks like, who’s to say?”
