Where Pope Leo XIV Liked To Order Pizza In Chicago

Before Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, he grew up around the South Side of Chicago in Dolton, Illinois. Apparently, he also acquired a taste for Chicago pizza there. As recently as August 2024, while still a cardinal, he made a quiet visit to Aurelio's Pizza in Homewood, Illinois.

The moment mainly flew under the radar — until it reemerged in a TikTok where staff pointed out the very booth he sat in and showed off a priest's chair from a local church, now stationed there in his honor. Now that he's Pope, the restaurant wasn't about to let his visit go without ceremony. It brought in the church chair, named the booth, and leaned into the moment with a nod to his pizza order: pepperoni.



Or, as the owners have now trademarked it, "Pope-eroni." Pope Leo's favourite local pizza place in Chicago is honouring him by renaming a popular menu item. 🍕 #Chicago #PopeLeoXIV #Pope #Conclave #9News ♬ original sound – 9News Australia Aurelio's isn't just a beloved local pizza place – it's Chicago's oldest pizza chain, known for its Chicago-style thin crust , sprawling booths, and party-sized pies that still taste like the '50s.

And pepperoni – America's favorite pizza topping – has never looked holier than it does here, delivered to a table once occupied by the Bishop of Rome himself. Raised on books, faith, and thin crust Before he became Pope Leo XIV, he was just Robert Prevost from the Midwest, born on Chicago's South Side and raised a few minutes outside the city limits. His childhood was stitched together by the usual landmarks there: a local parish, a tight-knit school, and parents who kept things running.

His father worked in public education; his mother helped run the library and kept a close connection to St. Mary of the Assumption in Riverdale, Illinois, the church that anchored much of their neighborhood life. Dolton sits about eight miles from Aurelio's, which means the pizza place that crowned Prevost with a priest chair had likely been on his radar since early on.

Founded in 1959, and now one of America's favorite pizza chains , it started as a four-table storefront before expanding into the sprawling, checker-clothed giant it is today. And while Prevost's path took him through Peru, Rome, and eventually to the Vatican, Aurelio's remained in Homewood. This isn't the first time the Catholic Church has crossed paths with pizza.

A few years back, Pope Francis threw a pizza party for over 1,000 unhoused individuals in Rome. But there's something different about Leo XIV's connection. No big spectacle or cameras — just a pepperoni pie and a place that still remembers him as the kid from down the street.

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