In one of Chicago’s south suburbs, while other boys were playing cops and robbers, the future Pope Leo XIV would pretend to hold Mass in the basement of his family’s small brick home, reading from scripture and distributing disk-shaped candy wafers to his two older brothers.

The pope’s surprise Chicago roots are fueling hopes for economic revival in Dolton and the South Suburbs through tourism and new development.

Chicago locals headed to Rome for Pope Leo XIV's installation ceremony 02:20. It still may be hard to believe, but the new pope is from Chicago. In just a few days, those who cons

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV was a proud day for the Callahan family, specifically Bill Callahan. The Tennessee Titans' offensive line coach and father of coach Brian Callahan,

Pope Leo XIV is busy in his first full week of work in the Vatican, but will he consider making a trip home to Chicago in the near future?

Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, said he expects Pope Leo XIV "feels an obligation," to speak to what he called the issues of the day, amid "real challenges globally."

In his first days as pope, Leo XIV has struck many as an unassuming man of quiet warmth and deeply rooted identity. A visit to the part of Chicago where the first American Pontiff was raised gives an idea of how he got that way.

A Midwesterner, like the new Pope Leo XIV, Burger swelled with pride and saw a little opportunity for motivation. “Basically, I kind of thought: New Pope, new me,” Burger said Wednesday night. “He’s a Midwestern guy like me. I was proud. And since he’s been elected Pope, we’ve been rather hot.”

Jetlagged but excited, Pope Leo XIV’s brother John Prevost is catching up on daily life after a whirlwind few days in the Vatican.