With Pope Leo XIV being from Chicago, everyone seems to have some sort of connection with him — even if it’s as simple as sharing a love for the White Sox or having played tennis on the same court as him.

Pope Leo XIV exemplifies the vibrancy that the Catholic Church in the United States has to offer the world.
For instance, my father-in-law’s colleague shared that the pope is actually her uncle’s cousin.
And Catholics from Chicago (where the pope grew up), New Orleans (where the pope has familial roots), and Holland, Michigan (where the pope went to minor seminary), as well as those who attended the University of Villanova (where the pope attended college) feel particularly close to him.
The closeness is jarring, given that our experience with other Roman pontiffs has been that they are from foreign lands and historical times and speak languages we don't understand.
I have been reading Peter Seewald’s biography of Pope Benedict XIV, Benedict XIV: A Life. In the initial chapters, Seewald presents the pieces of historical evidence we have of Pope Benedict’s childhood and education amidst the Second World War as though they are precious pearls of insight into a long-ago past.
That’s a far cry from what we have with Pope Leo, as the pope’s grade school classmates, acquaintances, and personal friends are speaking of his life in modern Midwestern America in relatable terms on cable news shows.
In my case of connection to the pope, my husband’s great-uncle, Father Don Bates, was an Augustinian priest in the Midwest Province until his death in 2023. As the pope’s brother Augustinian for 46 years, my husband’s great-uncle no doubt knew the pope, especially given that then-Father Prevost was his provincial superior for a time and bore responsibility for deciding his ministry.
The two experienced the decline of the Order of St. Augustine in their home province, as well as its recent resurgence. The same year that Father Bates was honored for 60 years of profession to the orde...