Mayor Brandon Johnson will travel to Rome later this month to visit Pope Leo XIV.
Johnson’s first visit with the pontiff will happen “before the end of the month,” the mayor’s office told the Sun-Times.
“I’m just elated that the Pope is from Chicago,” Johnson said in a statement. “I think we’re going to talk about the values we share — protecting voting rights, protecting immigrant rights, and protecting workers’ rights. He’s been very clear and consistent on those issues, and I’m looking forward to that conversation.”
The mayor’s office said World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development organization, will cover the expenses for the trip. Johnson’s meeting with the pope is currently scheduled for May 28. He will be in Rome and Vatican City from May 26-30, the mayor’s office said.
Pope Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first U.S.-born pope and an avid White Sox fan. During the first year of his pontificate, he has spoken out on a range of issues, including President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the war in Iran.
Johnson’s visit to the Vatican comes shortly after President Donald Trump, who has been openly critical of Johnson, faced backlash for calling the pope “terrible for foreign policy” and for posting a since-deleted AI-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus. Pope Leo addressed Trump’s attack the next day aboard the papal plane headed to Algeria saying he was “not afraid of the Trump administration.”
Johnson is not the first Illinois politician to visit the pontiff. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Gov. JB Pritzker are among those who have also traveled to the Vatican to meet with him.
Giannoulias visited Pope Leo with a delegation of Illinois labor leaders in October. A month later, Gov. JB Pritzker and his wife, MK, also paid Leo a visit. The Pritzkers gave him a piece of art from an incarcerated immigrant woman, as well as beer labeled, of course, “Da Pope.”
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