Pope Leo XIV met with 10 of his eighth grade classmates in St. Peter\u2019s Square at a recent general audience.<\/p>\n
On the steps of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo XIV met last week with some of his eighth grade classmates from St. Mary of the Assumption lower school in south Chicago, where he grew up.<\/p>\n
Of the 82 eighth graders with whom he attended St. Mary\u2019s in 1969, 10 greeted him after the general audience on March 18, exchanging laughs, gifts, and warm handshakes.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, his former classmates gave him a photograph of the class of 1969, which he held up as he posed for another group shot more than 50 years later.<\/p>\n
Jerome Clemens pointed out the young Robert Prevost standing among his classmates to the L\u2019Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper: \u201cHere he is, our friend, the pope,\u201d showing the back of the photo with Prevost\u2019s old autograph and his new one, which he signed, \u201cLeo XIV.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another former classmate, Sherry Stone (n\u00e9e Blue), dropped a sign she held that read \u201cGod bless you Pope Leo\u201d when the pope approached her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry! I\u2019m nervous!\u201d she said, laughing, as he shook her hand.<\/p>\n
Last spring, Stone told the Lansing Journal: \u201cWhen he was in the conclave, I thought, \u2018Could it be him? Could Bob be the new pope? No, probably not.\u2019 When I saw that it was him, I was just amazed. I was crying tears of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a super nice guy, but not nerdy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After finishing eighth grade at St. Mary\u2019s, Prevost attended boarding school at St. Augustine Seminary High School in Michigan, graduating in 1973. He then attended another Augustinian school, Villanova University, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics in 1977 before entering the Augustinian novitiate that September. <\/p>\n
He was ordained a priest in 1982, earning a master of divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago that same year. He earned a licentiate in canon law (JCL) in 1984 and completed a doctorate in canon law (JCD) in 1987, both from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.<\/p>\n
St. Mary\u2019s church and school on Chicago\u2019s \u2018most endangered list\u2019<\/p>\n
St. Mary of the Assumption Church and School, where a young Prevost served as an altar boy and his mother, Mildred Prevost, worked as a librarian, was at the center of a vibrant Catholic community in the Riverdale neighborhood on Chicago\u2019s South Side in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
The property, which has been vacant since 2011 and is now privately owned, is located just a few blocks from the pope\u2019s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, but within Chicago city limits.<\/p>\n
The neighborhood has seen significant decline since the pope\u2019s childhood. Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago told EWTN News that St. Mary\u2019s, which has a hole in the roof of the church building, broken windows, graffiti, and many other issues, was listed on Preservation Chicago\u2019s 2026 \u201c7 Most Endangered List” as of March 4.<\/p>\n
Broken windows and graffiti on St. Mary of the Assumption School, where Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, attended eighth grade in 1969. | Credit: Matthew Kaplan<\/p>\n
\u201cWe at Preservation Chicago are of the opinion that the church and school buildings of St. Mary\u2019s are in need of immediate attention in order to secure temporary repairs, with a long-term goal of a full restoration of the campus of buildings, before everything is lost to deterioration,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
The property\u2019s current owner, Joel Hall, said last year he is open to a landmark designation by the city, according to Miller. <\/p>\n
Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preserving historic sites in Chicago and encouraging landmark designations in the city, presented its case to designate it as such at a meeting in May 2025 of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks.<\/p>\n
No decision has been made yet regarding the landmark designation, but Preservation Chicago has created an online petition to the city of Chicago to \u201cSave the Pope\u2019s Church!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis complex should become a visitors site, an oratory or shrine, as this is our first American pope \u2014 a world leader, and from Chicago!\u201d Miller told EWTN News.<\/p>\n
The interior of the dilapidated St. Mary of the Assumption Church, showing water damage to the floor and graffiti behind where the altar once stood. Pope Leo XIV served as an altar boy there during his childhood. | Credit: Ward Miller\/Preservation Chicago<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would very much like to see a partnership form to save these buildings and tell the story of this world leader,\u201d reads an article on Preservation Chicago\u2019s website. \u201cAn initial step in this process would be to consider a Chicago landmark designation of the buildings of this campus, with a plan to methodically restore and repurpose each of the buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close-up of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Riverdale, Chicago, Pope Leo XIV\u2019s childhood parish, which was recently added to Preservation Chicago’s \u201c7 Most Endangered\u201d list of historic structures in the city. | Credit: Cristen Brown<\/p>\n
Miller told EWTN News he would like to see the property \u201cprepared [in time] for the pope\u2019s return visits to Chicago!\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope does not yet have plans to visit the United States.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n