NEW LENOX, Ill. (WLS) — Those from the Chicago-area close to Pope Leo XIV are making their way to Rome for his installation Mass Sunday.
A teacher from Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox leaves for Rome Friday.
Brother David Relstab is part of the Midwest Augustinians Province, where Pope Leo started his religious life.
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He says young people are paying close attention to Pope Leo.
“Knowing that he hails from the same South Side community as us makes the church feel more familiar and relatable,” commented Relstab, expressing a sense of closeness to the newly appointed pope.
Relstab met Pope Leo when he visited Saint Jude Church in New Lenox last August.
“It was like a pleasant break for him, almost like a vacation, just as if we were welcoming a brother or cousin into our home; we prepared his room with care, saying, ‘welcome, Bob,'” shared Relstab. “The realization that someone we have personally known, spent time with, and shared meals with has now become the pope is truly astounding.”
A small contingent from the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park is also heading across the pond.
“The immense joy and pride we feel having one of our own graduates ascend to the position of pope is matched by the profound significance of this event for the entire church community,” stated Sister Barbara Reid, the president of Catholic Theological Union.
Pope Leo earned his master’s degree of divinity at the school.
“I’m thrilled, been a week of thrilling graces,” said Father John Lydon, with the Augustinians.
Lydon worked and lived with Pope Leo in Peru for 10 years.
“We were very close to the poor, treated the poor with dignity at a time not common in Peru. Those are the values of Augustinians he will carry forth in his ministry as successor of St. Peter,” Lydon said.
Now, Pope Leo is leading the more than 1.4 billion Catholics around the world.
It’s a huge moment of transition for the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV and other faiths
Pope Leo XIV and other faiths
As the ancient faith moves further into the modern world, people of all faiths at the center of Vatican City are looking to an American to bring other religions into a broad conversation.
At the Pontifical North American College, young American seminarians are planting their roots at a pivotal moment.
“To be able to see a pope who, you know, loves the White Sox is shared in so many kind of normal American experiences. I think gives a new perspective on how the pope and the Catholic Church has a role in their own lives, since be able to see a normal kind of example of what looks lived their faith in a concrete way,” said Father David Lee, a seminarian, at North American Pontifical College.
Lee found his desire for the priesthood at Notre Dame.
Just a few months ago, he was there when then Cardinal Robert Prevost celebrated Thanksgiving Mass at the seminary in Rome.
The future pope was so regularly American students say he asked to take a homemade pumpkin pie to go.
Now the words and stature of Pope Leo, students believe, are stirring spirituality that spans borders.
“To be able to understand that we’re part of a universal church that’s larger than, you know, our town, larger than our state, larger than our country, and to be able to share in that,” Lee said.
The American pope is ascending at a time of deep religious and political conflict.
“Whatever the pope says, yes, it can affect things. But the individual people who are doing the outreach on the dialogue on the interfaith work, that’s really where things are happening,” said Jonathan Elukin, a visiting professor at the Centre Cardinal Bea for Judaic Studies, Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Highland Park native Elukin is a Jewish professor guest-teaching in Rome, where the two religions, he says, have an opportunity.
“I think the larger message of reconciliation, of dialogue, of respect, of kind of humane interaction with Jews and Catholics; that’s an amazing accomplishment, and we should celebrate that,” Elukin said.
In a sign of outreach to young Catholics and future priests, all seminarians will be included in the ceremony of Pope Leo’s installation Mass.
Watch Pope Leo’s installation Mass at 3 a.m. Sunday on ABC7 Chicago, or wherever you stream.
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