The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV in southeast suburban Dolton was up for sale until Thursday when the owner realized he held the keys to a now-historic site.
The owner, who is not speaking with the media at this time, is now grappling with the difficult decision of what to do with the home, Steve Budzik, the property Realtor and the owner’s friend, said.
“It’s safe to say that it won’t be sold and it won’t be rented out,” Budzik said.
On Thursday morning, the house was listed at $219,000 but was quickly taken down after Budzik, with ICandy Realty, found out Robert Prevost was elected pope. Since then, he and the owner have been discussing how they could pay homage to the first U.S. pope with this home.
Newly elected mayor of Dolton Jason House said he is on board with making the home a designated historic landmark. He is even discussing possibly renaming the street after the pope.
“We look at it from a way of honoring any role that we can play in his childhood and memories. I think that’s a deep honor, and we want to make sure that we’re doing it properly,” House said.
It is an exciting time for Dolton, he said, and they want to recognize this historic moment.
One idea, Budzik said, is to restore it to how the pope may have remembered it in his childhood. They also discussed turning it into a viewing home or a museum.
The pope’s parents bought the 1,200-square-foot brick house on East 141st Place new in 1949, paying a $42 monthly mortgage. The Prevost family — Louis, an educator, Mildred, a librarian, and their sons Louis, John and Robert — were known as dedicated and devout musicians, altar boys, lectors and volunteers.
Budzik said one thing for certain is that the owner wants to speak with the pope’s family, especially his brother John Prevost, who lives in far southwest suburban New Lenox before deciding the next steps.
“Talking to the family is important because it is their childhood home,” he said. “Instead of just trying to profit off of somebody else, having them involved will be very important.”
Budzik and the owner want to know how the house used to look to potentially restore it.
“These houses weren’t big back in the day. Big families grew up in small houses. That was the norm, so we want to try to get an idea of how they operated and how we can bring it back,” Budzik said.
The Chicago property investor bought the home about a year ago with a plan to fix it up and sell it or rent it out. Budzik said the owner spent over $80,000 in renovations to update the entirety of the house.
It now includes a full-finished basement, five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and cosmetic changes throughout the house. But, those renovations might be ripped out and the inside restored to how the over 70-year-old home once looked.
Budzik said they are excited about what is to come for the home.
“Who would have known that it would have been a Chicago-born and raised pope that was picked and for his house to be in Dolton. I was really just taken back and surprised, but really honored,” Budzik said.
Contributing: Lauren FitzPatrick