ROME (AP) — Baseball rivalry couldn’t be averted when Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — a Cubs fan — met privately Thursday with Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native and lifelong White Sox fan. Johnson diplomatically brought gifts from both cross-town rivals, and invited the pope to visit his hometown. But when he handed Leo a Cubs hat, the pontiff noted he already was wearing a cap — a white zucchetto, or skull cap worn by pontiffs. “When we sat down before we took the group picture, he said he was grateful that we’re all coming together uniting, you know Cubs fans, Sox fans,” Johnson told reporters after the private meeting with Leo at the Vatican.
Chicago mayor talks immigration, war with popeJohnson is a progressive Democrat and leading critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is serving his first term as mayor of the third-largest city in the U.S. During the private meeting with the pope, Johnson applauded Leo for pushing back against the war in Iran and Trump administration immigration policies. “First of all, I just thanked him for his courage. I thanked him for his moral stance against these endless wars,” Johnson said. He said the pope asked him specifically about Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployment and its impact on the city.Johnson said the pontiff “was very gracious and very encouraging” about a series of executive orders that he had issued to push back against federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. Trump has frequently criticized Leo for his anti-war stance, to which Leo responded with increasingly bold retorts — all leading to a fence-mending visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month.
