Pope Leo's Chicago Roots: His Grandfather's Intriguing Immigration Tale

Pope's legacy tied to race, Chicago's Black community

Pope Leo XIV and I are both descendants of the Great Migration.Our grandparents journeyed to Chicago from the South as part of a wave of Black families seeking a better life in the North. His mother’s Creole people hailed from Louisiana. Mine moved from Tennessee and Georgia. We’re both native South Siders.This does not mean the pontiff can come to the mythical cookout that Black folks fervently pass out invitations to like a deck of Spades card…

Pope Leo's Chicago roots: His grandfather's intriguing immigration tale

CHICAGO — Pope Leo's connection to Chicago is by now well known to the masses but long before he was born and raised in Dolton, his ancestors left the old world of Italy to begin a new life in America. Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana t. Spyropoulos started at adeep dive into the genealogy as soon after Pope Keo was chosen. Before his ascension to lead the Catholic Church, he was known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, or “Father Bob,” as his …

Cook Country archives show Pope Leo XIV's grandfather immigrated from Italy to US

Pope Leo's grandfather was born in Italy in 1876 and came to the United States in 1905, eventually making his way to Chicago. His grandson took the opposite route, starting in Chicago and moving to Italy.

When white smoke rose from the sky over Rome, the world's attention was focused on the Vatican, but the story of the new Pope, Leo XIV, began in Chicago. How does a pope's birthplace shape his work and change the city? From Polish pilgrimage routes to French vineyards, the birthplaces of popes carry a special legacy.

Pope Leo’s Creole roots raise hopes for Black American sainthood causes  - Catholic Review

The election of a Chicago-born pope with Louisiana Creole ancestry is drawing attention from Black Catholics, especially after genealogist Jari Honora traced Pope Leo XIV’s maternal grandparents to New Orleans’ Black Catholic community.  Jesuit Father Gregory Chisholm, superior of the Jesuit community at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, said the findings could influence support for Black American sainthood causes.  A float at a 2018 New…

Thomasians recall encounters with ever-smiling Father Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV

LONG BEFORE he stepped onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, then-Fr. Robert Francis Prevost had already left a simple but lasting impression on two Thomasians — a seminarian and a support staff member — during his time as head of the Order of St. Augustine.  The American-born priest visited the Philippines at least nine times during his 12-year term as Augustinian prior general. In September 2010, Carlo Olayta, who was then a…