Photos

Well-wishers, curious flock to pope's home parish

Since Cardinal Robert Prevost's election on May 8, 2025, as the 267th pope for the Catholic Church, well-wishers and the curious have been flocking to points of interest in his hometown including his childhood parish and home.
St. Mary of the Assumption Church in 1986. (Photo courtesy Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives and Records Center)
A flood of pilgrims and other curious visitors began arriving at the little brick house where Pope Leo grew up within hours of the announcement of his election. The house is located at 212 E. 141st Pl., about a mile south of Chicago. (Clinton Cottrell/Chicago Catholic)
Father Gosbert Rwezahura, pastor of Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, talks about the excitement Pope Leo XIV has brought to the parish since the announcement he was named pope. Father Rwezahura has members who attended St. Mary of the Assumption and remember the new pope as a child. The archdiocese merged St. Mary of the Assumption with Queen of Apostles in Riverdale in 2011 to become the St. Mary, Queen of Apostles church. The tabernacle is from the pope's former church. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
This tabernacle used at Christ Our Savior Church is from the pope's former church, St. Mary of the Assumption. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

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