Chicagoans journey to Rome to celebrate hometown Pope Leo XIV at formal papal installation
The Vatican was already crowded with tourists and pilgrims on Saturday, but tens of thousands are expected on Sunday, and perhaps as many as 100,000 for Pope Leo's inaugural Mass, and Chicagoans have made the journey to Rome to represent their hometown pope.
Among the tourists drawn to the marvels of St Peter's Square and the faithful making time for spiritual reflection was a contingent of Chicagoans celebrating the first American pope.
"As I let it sink in, and it hit actually my heart, I actually started crying tears of absolute joy," Father Joe Roccasalva said of the election of Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope.
Born and bred in the Beverly neighborhood, Roccasalva made a last-minute decision to come to Rome and attend Pope Leo's inaugural Mass.
"I actually know the Pope," Roccasalva said.
Roccasalva met the pontiff several times when the pope, then Father Robert Prevost, directed their Augustinian order in Chicago.
"He is down to Earth, he is a little bit reserved … but when he says something you want to listen to it, because he says something important," he said.
A number of Augustinians traveled to Rome to celebrate a man they knew personally from his time in Chicago.
Brother David Rolstad, now a teacher at Providence Catholic in New Lenox, already has an impressive picture of himself assisting a pre-papal Pope Leo at a Chicago Mass.
"We had breakfast together, and I read the paper, and now he's the pope," he said.
He said his students asked if he could get a selfie with the pope while he's in Rome.
Meantime, 10 students and several educators from Loyola University's Arrupe College will be showing their Chicago pride Sunday in Saint Peter's Square
"We don't know which bus we are going to get on, but we're going to get there early, stake out our place," said Father Marty Connell, dean of Arrupe College.
Their semester at Loyola's Rome Campus was already planned, but their arrival on Saturday came with added enthusiasm and meaning
"We are known for, like, Portillo's, small things, but now the pope is from Chicago," said Adriana Monzon, of Stickney.
"This pope is a global pope. I mean he's from Chicago," Connell said. "I think they really see him not just as an American, but really someone who captures the universality of the church."
The pope's installation on Sunday is the first of many Masses as he officially begins his papacy. The next is on May 25, when he is inaugurated as the head of the church of Rome.
