Chicagoans journey to Rome to celebrate hometown Pope Leo XIV at formal papal installation
As many as 150,000 people turned out in the Vatican Sunday for Pope Leo XIV's installation mass, and many Chicagoans made the journey to Rome to represent their hometown pope.
For a select few, the day was more special than they ever imagined.
The moment Pope Leo XIV passed by in the popemobile Sunday morning may not have been a miracle, but it was certainly something special. The excitement in St. Peter's Square was palpable — particularly among students and educators from Arrupe College at Loyola University Chicago.
Their semester at Loyola's Rome Campus was already planned, but their arrival on Saturday came with added enthusiasm and meaning. Sunday topped it all.
"I felt like a little kid seeing something that — I don't know, I just felt like a little kid coming out," said Adriana Monzon, of Stickney.
The exuberance of that moment almost didn't happen. The Arrupe College contingent's bus was blocked by a traffic accident, and access to the main piazza of St. Peter's Square was closed. But their experience of the pope was considered Divine Providence.
"We were discussing whether we use, 'See the pope,' or, 'Meet the pope,'" said Father Marty Connell, dean of Arrupe College. "We met the pope, and had that encounter, and it was really marvelous."
Other Chicagoans were in the crowd too, including Kate Ostrowski of Glenview and Lyndsey Martin of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. Both are students at Loyola's Rome campus.
They got up at 5 a.m. local time to secure a spot, witness history, and honor their Catholic faith.
"I'm just in shock and awe. I feel like it was such luck that, you know, the conclave happened and we got a pope from Chicago," said Ostrowski.
"Just the perfect timing. We just arrived two days ago on Friday, and I just kind of felt like there was no other option for something to do today — like this is where we had to be," said Martin.
Ahead of the mass, Connell spoke of the universality of the papacy.
"This pope is a global pope. I mean he's from Chicago," Connell said. "I think they really see him not just as an American, but really someone who captures the universality of the church."
Others from Chicago also attended, including at least one person who knew Pope Leo XIV personally.
"As I let it sink in, and it hit actually my heart, I actually started crying tears of absolute joy," Father Joe Roccasalva said of the election of Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope.
Born and bred in the Beverly neighborhood, Roccasalva made a last-minute decision to come to Rome and attend Pope Leo's inaugural Mass.
"I actually know the Pope," Roccasalva said Saturday.
Roccasalva met the pontiff several times when the pope, then Father Robert Prevost, directed their Augustinian order in Chicago.
"He is down to Earth, he is a little bit reserved … but when he says something you want to listen to it, because he says something important," he said.
A number of Augustinians traveled to Rome to celebrate a man they knew personally from his time in Chicago.
Brother David Rolstad, now a teacher at Providence Catholic in New Lenox, already has an impressive picture of himself assisting a pre-papal Pope Leo at a Chicago Mass.
"We had breakfast together, and I read the paper, and now he's the pope," he said.
He said his students asked if he could get a selfie with the pope while he's in Rome.
In his remarks Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the victimization of the poor and downtrodden, and also an end to war — particularly in Ukraine. In attendance Sunday was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and representing the United States on Sunday were Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
