CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to bring a message of thanks and gratitude to Pope Leo XIV when the two meet this month at the Vatican.
The mayor talked about his planned meeting with the Chicago-born Pope during an extensive interview Thursday with WBBM Newsradio at his office on the fifth floor of Chicago City Hall to mark the third anniversary of his swearing-in.
"We are just so elated and incredibly proud," the mayor said. "My message to him first will be a message of gratitude for the moral clarity that he is providing. His moral clarity around my policies and my executive orders I believe is a strong match, where faith and labor and government can all come together."
The two men have been in broad agreement around opposition to actions of the Trump Administration, particularly dealing with immigration.
"'How do we treat our neighbor? Who is our neighbor?'" the mayor asked rhetorically. "It's not defined by borders; it's defined by our collective humanity."
And despite their different religious traditions, the mayor said he sees intersections in their backgrounds and beliefs: "That's our love for people ... and responding to the least of these: the widow, the orphan."
One area in which the two men are not aligned deals with baseball: the pope born Robert Prevost in Chicago is a lifelong White Sox fan, while the mayor roots for the Cubs. And the mayor said the gifts he plans to bring to the Pope will reflect that.
"Are you going to bring him a Cubs hat?" asked WBBM Newsradio political editor Geoff Buchholz.
The mayor chuckled: "C'mon man, you know. Of course! At this point, I gotta bring him a jersey, I mean, let's do it all, right?"
The mayor is planning to leave May 26 for a meeting set to happen May 28.
Johnson to meet Chicago-born Pope at Vatican
Johnson to meet Chicago-born Pope at Vatican
