On the morning of June 2, Cardinal Cupich, dressed in a red cassock and wearing a red zucchetto, joined the student “cardinals” at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy to see a reenactment of their now-viral mock conclave and to answer their questions about the real conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.

Students dressed as Swiss Guards greeted the cardinal upon his arrival and escorted him to the “Sistine Chapel” on the school’s second floor. Then the student-cardinals, in the presence of the whole student body, reenacted a brief version of their mock conclave.

At the end of the performance, Cardinal Cupich spoke to the students and told them that not only did he see news clips about their conclave while in Rome, he shared it with other cardinals.

“It’s very clear to me that there was a lot of consideration about what had to be done in order to elect a pope,” the cardinal said. “That was really in tune with where the cardinals were. You know, there wasn’t a lot of effort to, say, partisan support of an individual. What we talked about before the election was, ‘What does the church need now?’ and, ‘What are the qualities of the person who can fill that?’”

That helped the cardinals come to elect Pope Leo, he said.

“We’re really proud that Chicago produced a pope,” Cardinal Cupich said. “That’s says something about Chicago, doesn’t it?”

After the cardinal’s remarks, students from each grade asked him a question.

First graders wanted to know if, during the conclave, the cardinals went around asking each other why they wanted to be pope — just like the students did in the mock conclave.

“No, we didn’t. I think if we went around and asked everyone why they wanted to be pope a vast majority would say, ‘I don’t want to be pope,’” Cardinal Cupich said, which made the students and adults laugh. “Think of it. Your life is over as you knew it. You’re a prisoner of the Vatican. You can’t go out for a pizza anymore.”

Popes have to live at the Vatican for the rest of their lives and cannot go home and visit family or friends whenever they want, Cardinal Cupich explained. While they take trips to different countries, they give their whole life to leading the church.

Third graders asked what the conclave was like for Cardinal Cupich.

“For me, it was very spiritual,” he said. “The reason we dress like you all are dressed, in what we call choir robes, is because the conclave is not a political process. It is a religious, liturgical event. We dress in choir robes because we want to make sure that we keep in mind what we’re doing is a prayer. I was very much aware of that, especially in that beautiful Sistine Chapel where you saw ‘The Last Judgment’ of Christ.”

Fifth graders asked him if he was worried he would become the next pope.

“I didn’t have any worry whatsoever,” he said with a laugh.

What does the church need from young people today? seventh graders asked.

“Pay attention to what’s in your heart, because God is working in you,” he said. “I know that sometimes we put a lot of pressure on young people to have success in a material way … but we also want to help you — and this is one of the great gifts our schools give to you — that you pay attention to your interior life.”

Pope Leo has a special message for the young people of the world about their spiritual life that will be shared during the upcoming June 14 celebration at Rate Field, Cardinal Cupich told the students.

“He’s very concerned about that, because he knows that we’re all tempted to only think about material things,” the cardinal said. “But each one of you — and I believe this, especially as I talk to young people — you have within you a sensitivity to something more than just material gain. You want to be good people. You have aspirations of loving others, of caring for people in their need, to be unselfish.”

Pay attention to those feelings that come from the heart, Cardinal Cupich said.

At the end, after the rest of the school was dismissed, Cardinal Cupich gathered with the student-cardinals, answered their questions and gave them each a small replica of the crucifix on the crosier carried by Pope Leo XIV and his recent predecessors.

One student asked if Pope Leo had seen the coverage of their mock conclave.

Cardinal Cupich did not know, but told the student he would show it to him when he could.