Mayor Brandon Johnson says meeting with Pope Leo XIV was conversation between "two guys from Chicago"

Mayor Brandon Johnson had a historic meeting with Pope Leo XIV Thursday, but in the end, he said it was just "two guys from Chicago" in a room talking.

Johnson led a 46-member delegation to meet with the first American-born pope, a Chicago native, and deliver him a little bit of home.

Johnson said he and the pope spoke about social justice and discussed the pope's apologies regarding slavery, but in the end it boiled down to a conversation between two guys from Chicago, one a mayor and the other the leader of the Catholic Church.

"He wanted to know how Chicago was doing," Johnson said. "As a true Chicagoan, missing his home and really being concerned about Midway Blitz, the attacks against immigrants, of course; the wars, the endless illegal wars. And then, of course, we talked about my appreciation for him and his recognition of the horrific institution of slavery and the role the church played."

Pope Leo XIV issued the first-ever apology for the Vatican's role in facilitating and justifying the transatlantic slave trade earlier this week, and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican's record a "wound in Christian memory."

Johnson said the apology was a true testament of his faith, and speaks to Pope Leo's moral clarity.

The mayor said his visit and meeting reassures the people of Chicago that the city's "position for justice is a position of our faith, and at a time in which people are looking for hope and moral clarity, this provides that necessary connection between how faith and government can come together to solve critical issues facing Chicago today."

He said their conversation encompassed the "spirit of Chicago."

"We sat down and began to talk, and that's really the spirit of Chicago: where two individuals who have incredible responsibility use that time to share our experience, and how to collectively support humanity," the mayor said.

The delegation was comprised of representatives from Chicago's business, religious and political communities. They presented the pope with gifts including giardiniera, honorary degrees from DePaul and Loyola universities, and a selection of Cubs memorabilia which the pope graciously accepted… even though his allegiance remains with the White Sox.