Ever since Robert Prevost became the first American pope, Mayor Brandon Johnson has said more than once, “Everything dope, including the pope, comes from Chicago,” and has been searching for a way to pay a lasting tribute to the homegrown pontiff.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) thinks he’s found a Chicago centerpiece grand enough and important enough to honor Pope Leo XIV: Northerly Island, the underutilized lakefront oasis that once housed Meigs Field.
Lopez plans to introduce a resolution at Wednesday’s City Council meeting that, if approved, would urge the Chicago Park District to rename as “Pope Leo XIV Northerly Island” the nature park created after former Mayor Richard M. Daley famously sent in the bulldozers in the dark of night to carve giant Xs into Meigs Field’s only runway.
Although the pope is arguably the most famous fan of the surging Chicago White Sox, Rate Field is tied up with a naming rights deal.
Lopez views Northerly Island as not only the next best thing, but maybe even the most appropriate tribute because it would benefit the city while also paying lasting tribute to the homegrown pope.
“Northerly Island is a beautiful space that brings people to the lakefront. It’s a venue that we can uplift and use more. And it’s very fitting because it will allow us to not only rename it, but repurpose it and bring some vitality to that location,” Lopez told the Sun-Times.
“Perhaps if we rename Northerly Island, that could be a location where Pope Leo, should he visit Chicago as the invitation has been extended, could do an outdoor mass there and provide not only a beautiful outdoor ceremony on the lake to express our Catholic [faith], but make it a draw for the faithful.”
After leading a group of nearly 50 influential Chicagoans on a trip to Rome for a private audience with the pope, Johnson talked openly about renaming something for Pope Leo, or about building some kind of monument to him.
Lopez said he can think of no better tribute than Northerly Island. He even raised the possibility of using at least a portion of the building that once served as the passenger terminal for Meigs Field to tell the pope’s life story.
“This allows us to honor someone who is alive, who has done something that no American has ever done, and is now the leader of one of the world’s major faiths,” Lopez said.
“We have plenty of potential possibilities for what we can do in that space… to educate people about his life, his ministry, his calling and his message. But I don’t just want it to be like a Catholic island. This is something that transcends not just the Catholic faith but our connection as a greater Chicago community,” Lopez said.
Brian Gladstein, executive director of Friends of the Parks, said Lopez is “not wrong to say” that Northerly Island is “underutilized” and that more needs to be done to “highlight” the urban oasis.
But Gladstein said renaming it “Pope Leo XIV Northerly Island” won’t mean a whole lot “if we don’t deal with the bigger issues” surrounding the park.
“We need a new vision for Northerly Island and how to make it into a world class park… It’s a prime location that needs resources to make it a full and open park,” Gladstein said.
“The concert venue was never supposed to be permanent. It was supposed to be a temporary concert venue. We’re sensitive to the fact that it brings in revenue to the Park District. But we never really analyzed that. There are other private events that happen that restrict access to that beach — and it’s a beautiful beach people should know about. A lot more marketing could be done to highlight that beach and park.”