Chicago’s South Side was solidly working class during Pope Leo’s childhood, said Rob Paral, a researcher at the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago. The family attended a South Side church, but they lived in Dolton, a suburb just past the city line.

Many sites associated with past popes’ lives have become museums or holy destinations for the faithful. But Pope Leo XIV’s childhood church in Chicago closed years ago.

He is a man formed by his experience in the church of Chicago, especially the south side,’ writes Mark Francis, CSV.