Over the past few weeks, Pope Leo XIV’s commitment to Gospel truth has powerfully evangelized parts of society that are generally unaware of papal activities. Non-Catholics (even agnostics) have been saying, “He’s my pope,” and “I never really paid attention to the Pope before but he is really good.” While their statements reflect a well-deserved respect for Pope Leo, what these admirers are really attracted to – whether or not they recognize it to be true – is the message of Christ that the Holy Father is living out. His unwavering stand for peace makes me wonder how God has used Pope Leo’s personal history to shape his present faithfulness. Who is this man who has been elected to lead the Church? Where did he come from?
This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to explore Chicago, the city of Pope Leo’s birth. It offered me a brief glimpse of the child Robert Prevost, who grew up to become the first American Pope.
A Pope is Born
Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 14th, 1955 at Mercy Hospital on the southern side of Chicago, Illinois. The hospital building is now gone, the first of many things in Pope Leo’s childhood that has experienced drastic change. At the time of his birth, Mercy hospital was a renowned teaching institution founded by the Sisters of Mercy. The hospital served patients regardless of their religion, race, and economic resources. It also implemented cutting edge treatments. In fact, just four months before the youngest Prevost’s birth, Mercy Hospital boasted the first successful separation of twins born joined at the head when Deborah Marie and Christine Mary Adams were surgically separated. Almost half a century earlier, the hospital treated President Theodore Roosevelt after he was the victim of an assassination attempt.
The hospital as it exists today.
In the 1960s, the hospital relocated a short distance away to the structure that is still in use today. As demographics in the neighborhood shifted and other area hospitals invested in costly updates, Mercy Hospital faced financial challenges. In 2020, the hospital filed for bankruptcy. The following year, it was sold to a nonprofit for $1, an arrangement which allowed it to continue providing healthcare services to an underserved area of Chicago. This theme of economic decline and increasing deprivation was common in many of the areas of Chicago where Pope Leo once walked.
The likely site of the building where Pope Leo XIV was born. It is now apartments and a parking lot.
The year that Robert Prevost was born, the top song was “Rock Around the Clock,” the top show was The $64,000 Question (followed by I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show), and the films Lady and the Tramp and Oklahoma! were newly released. On the global front, the Warsaw Pact was established between the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, further entrenching the divisions of the Cold War. In the United States, racial tensions were escalating following the kidnapping and brutal murder of Emmett Till, a teenager from Chicago.
The Early Years
After his birth, baby Robert came home to live with his parents (Mildred Martinez and Louis Marius Prevost) and two older brothers (Louis Martin and John Joseph). The family resided in a single family home at 212 E 141st Place, Dolton, Illinois. Today, their brick house sits toward the end of a horseshoe loop that is lined with other, nearly identical homes, some of which are falling into disrepair. Following Pope Leo’s election as pope, the city of Dolton purchased the Prevost family home in an effort to preserve it and to open it up to tourists.
The Prevost family home.
The town of Dolton has changed dramatically since Robert Prevost was a child there, but one defining feature remains: the railroad tracks. Settled as a farming community in 1837, Dolton’s close proximity to Chicago resulted in the proliferation of freight train tracks throughout the town. Their presence has been both a blessing and a curse to the community, providing jobs and easy access to factory work in the big city, while simultaneously creating issues with noise and environmental pollution. In 1973, then-Mayor Norman MacKay described the railroads impact on Dolton’s residents saying,
“In whatever direction one attempts to travel, nine times out of ten he is halted by a freight train laboriously pulling up to 200 cars into, or out of, one of the freight yards on the outskirts of the village…auto traffic piles up at the intersection to a distance that sometimes attains two miles in each direction.”
A model of Chicago’s suburban train hubs is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Today, successive waves of changes in opportunities and demographics make the town a prime example of suburban decline in the Midwest. Factories have shuttered, tax revenue from industries has dried up, home values have plummeted, and economic vultures have swooped into feast on whatever — and whoever — remains. Not surprisingly, crime rates have risen, buildings have been abandoned, and school districts have suffered.
During the Prevost children’s childhood, however, the region’s status as an industrial hub afforded local families with a solid economy, affordable housing, and an opportunity for upward mobility. It was a short walk from the family home to the Church they attended — St. Mary of the Assumption — and it was there that young Robert attended elementary school, was an altar server, and sang in the choir. At home, Robert enticed his older brothers and playmates into games of imaginary Masses, over which he presided. His older brother has said, “I think he knew it by first grade that he was going to be a priest…there was no question in anyone’s mind.”
St. Mary of the Assumption, the Prevost family church.
Like much of the neighborhood, the church has been shuttered and fallen into disrepair.
A Pope’s Heritage
While the Prevost children studied and played, their father, Louis, worked as a school principal at Mount Carmel High School and, eventually, became superintendent of Glenville schools. As a young man, Louis was an officer in the Navy during World War II and he participated in the landing at Normandy.
U-505, the only German U-boat that was captured by the United States during WWII is on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Given Louis Prevost’s naval career, it is likely that he brought his sons to see this tribute to the bravery of the U.S. Navy.
After the war, Louis pursued a graduate degree in education. A love of learning and pedagogy seems to have run in the family: Louis’ father, Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggatano, was a colorful character who — in addition to being the subject of newspaper articles regarding an “illicit affair” — taught Italian, French, and Spanish after he immigrated to the United States from Sicily. Salvatore adopted his second wife’s family name — Prevost — hence the family name.
In addition to education, Catholicism played an important role in Louis’ birth family and, according to his mother’s obituary, she was a member of the Third Order of Carmelites. Robert Prevost was a young boy when his paternal grandfather died, but his paternal grandmother was alive throughout his childhood and teenage years. Her faith seems to have had a direct impact on her son, Louis, who was the president of the Altar and Rosary Society at his family’s church and assisted in the distribution of 1,000 free polio vaccines through the parish.
Holy Name Cathedral where Louis and Mildred (“Ma”) Prevost were married.
The Prevost children’s mother, Mildred (called “Ma”), also valued education. She received a graduate degree in the same education program as her husband and was employed (and volunteered) as a librarian. Mildred enjoyed acting and was a competitive singer. She married late and her pregnancies with the children would be considered “geriatric” today. She taught her three boys practical skills such as cooking, cleaning, and ironing; however, sharing her faith was her top priority.
The cornerstone of the church that the Prevost family attended.
Mildred’s family identified as white by the time they settled in Chicago; however, her parents were both Creole and were listed as Black and “mulatto” on historical records. According to these records, her parents married in her mother’s birthplace of New Orleans, though her father seems to have been born in either the Dominican Republic or Haiti. The family ultimately moved to Chicago, likely as part of the Great Migration that took place in response to economic struggles and increasingly hostile Jim Crow Laws in southern states. Mildred had five sisters, two of whom became religious sisters. Unfortunately, both of Mildred’s parents seem to have died prior to Robert Prevost’s birth.
It is unclear how much the Prevost children knew about their mother’s ancestry, though they were certainly aware of the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement and were likely aware, at least peripherally, of the rioting that surrounded Martin Luther King Jr.’s Chicago Freedom Movement. Launched in 1966, the movement was an attempt to address segregation and discrimination in the northern states.
The School Years
At school, the youngest Prevost was reportedly a beloved student. In a Town & Country article, a classmate at St. Mary of the Assumption remembered that “he was the pride and joy of every priest and nun in that school.” After graduating from the eighth grade, Robert, known to his classmates as Bob, attended St. Augustine Seminary High School in Michigan. His brother, John, said that from that point on, the brothers only saw one another on school breaks. As a student, Robert was recognized for his performance on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. He performed well academically and was inducted into the National Honor Society, graduating as the co-valedictorian of his class. He participated in a Student Congress in Lansing; edited the yearbook; was a member of the student council; joined the tennis and debate teams; and was president of the Library Club, Mission Club, and senior class.
Gate to St. Mary of the Assumption school where all three Prevost children attended elementary school.
By the time Robert left home to attend Villanova University in PA, U.S. culture had changed dramatically. The Watergate scandal rocked the Washington political scene; the Vietnam War dragged on, which heavily influenced the popular show M.A.S.H. (though M.A.S.H. is set during the Korean War); the Supreme Court heard the case of Roe v. Wade; and, closer to home, the Chicago Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) was nearing completion.
The Sears Tower (the tallest structure with two antennas) was completed around the time that Robert Prevost left to attend college.
Graduate Education and Ministry
Much has been written about Robert Prevost’s more advanced studies, his work as a priest, years as a bishop/cardinal, and his current actions as Pope Leo XIV, the Supreme Pontiff. Even after reaching adulthood, his life’s story — which has taken him from Rome, to Peru, and ultimately back to Rome — contains a few more chapters in Chicago. After college, Robert received theological training at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago where he lived across the street from the school. During this time, he worked as a substitute teacher at St. Rita’s School and as a teacher at Mendel Catholic High School and Tolentine College, all of which were on the southern side of Chicago.
While he studied and worked, significant cultural and political changes continued to swirl around him. In the world of entertainment, the first Star Wars movie was released and a King Tut exhibit opened in the Field Museum that sits beside the Chicago waterfront. Conflicts surrounding the LGBTQ community were heating up and, in 1977, members of the community clashed with fans of anti-LGBTQ singer Anita Bryant on Chicago’s streets. In 1979, Chicago elected its first woman mayor, Jane Byrne. Later that year, Pope John Paul II visited Chicago. Then, in 1981, doctors began to report seeing patients who displayed symptoms of what would later be identified as AIDS. The virus had a dramatic impact on the LGBTQ community, homophobic attitudes in the United States, and the practice of healthcare.
After completing his studies at Catholic Theological Union, Robert Prevost was sent to continue his education in Rome. Around this time, the infamous Tylenol murders took place in Chicago, panicking the city.
After completing his studies in Rome, Father Prevost began ministering in Peru, where he served for more than two decades. He then briefly returned to the city of his birth in 2013 to serve as the Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel.”
The United States that he returned to was much changed. Technology had advanced at a rapid pace, creating virtual avenues for connection and isolation that correlated with a sharp decline in youth mental health. The U.S., a country that had elected its first Black president (a former community organizer in Chicago and an Illinois senator), had been repeatedly rocked by violent domestic and terrorist acts — most notably September 11, 2001. In May of 2013, two radicalized immigrant brothers from Chechnya bombed the Boston Marathon on Patriots’ Day, followed by a multi-day manhunt and violent standoff with police. Additionally, the opioid crisis was ravaging the country, contributing to crime and premature deaths. Globally, the U.S. military was mired in a decades long war in Afghanistan and Russia was on the cusp of invading Crimea.
A year after his return to Chicago, then-Bishop Prevost was reassigned to minister as a Bishop in Peru. He was later elevated to Archbishop and called to Rome, where he served as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and the President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In 2023, he became a Cardinal. He assisted Pope Francis with his Apostolic Journeys and participated in the first two sessions of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
Throughout this time, he intermittently returned to Chicago to visit his family and to indulge in a slice of Aurelio’s pizza. In fact, a photograph reveals that, as recently as 2024, then-Cardinal Prevost visited Aurelio’s to consume some of their slices. Unlike so many other places from his childhood, the original branch of Aurelio’s Pizza, which is located beside a train track in Homewood (a town close to the Prevost home in Dolton), remains open and continues to serve what has been reported to be Pope Leo’s favorite pizza (though, given his current residence, it seems likely that he has discovered some rivals). In fact, one tourist traveled to St. Peter’s Square, bearing a box of the beloved pizza as a gift for the Pope. For curious papal hunters looking to appraise the Pope’s taste, local resident and bookstore owner, Tenia Davis, Ph.D., shared an insider tip with WPI: ask your server to make your pizza in the basement oven which is original to the restaurant and was used when it first opened in 1959.
Aurelio’s “Poperoni” pizza. Yes, it was good — and incredibly heavy!
Gone but not Forgotten
While Pope Leo no longer calls Chicago home, shadows of his past remain: his picture displayed on the Cathedral where his grandmother’s funeral was held and his parents were married; a homily delivered by the city’s bishop that admonished listeners to revere the Holy Father; and the pride of a city that raised a pope. Just as Pope Leo has made his mark on the city of Chicago, it is easy for visitors to imagine how Chicago may have imprinted itself on the heart and mind of the Holy Father. Its multi-cultural and immigrant history seem to contribute to his understanding of migration, hospitality, and universal dignity; the Catholic faith and charity of the city’s own St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and Venerable Augustus Tolton seem likely inspirations of the Holy Father’s own devotion and compassion; the pioneers of social justice that helped to improve the lives of the city’s most vulnerable shaped the city that raised a pope who is deeply concerned with the “least of these;” and the deep poverty, racial division, and need that still plagues some neighborhoods — and has spilled into the suburbs — surely shapes Pope Leo’s understanding of just labor laws, peace, and systemic injustices.
It has been said that Pope Leo is truly a global pope. While this is true, it is equally fascinating to consider his earliest roots and to discover that, at a time when those who have borne the brunt of America’s industrial decline feel forgotten and disenfranchised, the Holy Spirit chose a man who was born into a world of freight trains, steel mills, and economic upheaval to lead the Church. That seems like a gift of divine providence.
Images: Ariane Sroubek, 2026
Ariane Sroubek is a writer, school psychologist and mother to two children here on earth. Prior to converting to Catholicism, she completed undergraduate studies in Bible and Theology at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. She then went on to obtain her doctorate in School and Child Clinical Psychology. Ariane’s writing is inspired by her faith, daily life experiences and education. She is currently writing a women's fiction novel and a middle-grade mystery series. Her non-fiction book, Raising Sunshine: A Guide to Parenting Through the Aftermath of Infant Death is available on Amazon. More of her work can be found at https://mysustaininggrace.com.
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