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Now that the world's most famous Catholic is an American from Chicago, church leaders there are hoping his papacy will inspire more people to take up Catholicism. Some hope Pope Leo XIV will bring new energy to a church that has been on a steady decline in Chicago. Adora Namigadde reports.
ADORA NAMIGADDE, BYLINE: Bennison's Bakery in suburban Chicago has a new popular baked good for sale - pope cookies. Supervisor Jennifer Fournier recalls...
JENNIFER FOURNIER: As soon as it was then verified that he was from Chicago, the owner, Jory Downer, gave a call to the bakery and said, no one can leave.
NAMIGADDE: Downer saw the business opportunity. The team raced to develop the cookies. They feature a smiling picture of Pope Leo XIV surrounded with sprinkles colored to match the Vatican flag. They're a mainstay now. People are ordering them across the country.
FOURNIER: And I kind of thought that it would have died out by now, but nope.
NAMIGADDE: The bakery is just one example of a local business offering papal paraphernalia. From the pope T-shirts to a graphic installation at the White Sox stadium, there's a lot of excitement around Pope Leo in Chicagoland. Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, says with all this energy around Pope Leo, he hopes the pope will inspire more people in the area to consider more seriously practicing Catholicism or even becoming church leaders.
BLASE CUPICH: I think that he, as a South Sider growing up in Chicago, is going to be able to offer a message to young people today about the importance of thinking about serving in a lifelong commitment to the church.
NAMIGADDE: Cupich says one of the main reasons the archdiocese closed more than 100 parishes three years ago was a shortage of priests. There are less Catholics here overall now. In 1970, there were nearly 2.5 million Catholics in Chicago. Today, there are about 2 million, according to church statistics.
CUPICH: The man is genuinely authentic. He's going to be able to speak to Americans in a language they understand as an American speaking. I think that he is going to help people take a second look at the church.
NAMIGADDE: The archdiocese will hold a Mass in June to celebrate him. But this interest in the world's most important Catholic leader is set against a story of Catholic decline in the city. The church of Pope Leo's youth closed in 2011.
I am standing outside the pope's childhood parish. It's called St. Mary Church. And you can really tell the area's a bit economically depressed. The church has a big hole in the top window behind a Mary statue. It's just kind of an unassuming spot on the South Side of Chicago.
The building has not been open in more than 10 years. Yet Dottie Milton keeps seeing people drive through this quiet part of the South Side. I chatted with her while she pulled weeds on her church lawn, just down the street from the pope's.
DOTTIE MILTON: I have seen a lot of people, you know, lately in the neighborhood, viewing the church, stopping by, taking pictures, standing, kneeling, praying and all of that.
NAMIGADDE: Acts of faith in front of an abandoned building that's taken on new meaning. Even people who have not stopped by the pope's church feel that there is something more special about Chicago because of the pope's history. Liam Grimes is a junior at DePaul University who visits the Catholic center between classes to pray and socialize. He says he and other students are excited about Pope Leo.
LIAM GRIMES: And there's been, like, a buzz, I guess, to it 'cause it's an American pope and we're in Chicago, where he's from.
NAMIGADDE: While Grimes is happy the pope is a Chicagoan, he will focus his energy on praying for him.
GRIMES: I pray, and that we should all pray, that Pope Leo is a holy man and is faithful and does what he believes that God wants him to do as the leader of the Catholic Church.
NAMIGADDE: Ultimately, DePaul professor Michael Budde says Pope Leo is in a honeymoon period, and that may only last...
MICHAEL BUDDE: Until the person in charge has to make a controversial decision, and that might be quickly, that might be six months from now. But it's not the sort of thing that goes on forever.
NAMIGADDE: Because although the pope may have been raised in Chicago, he's the spiritual leader for 1.4 billion Catholics across the world. For NPR News, I'm Adora Namigadde in Chicago.
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