Dolton, a south Chicago suburb, has unanimously voted to purchase the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV, hoping the acquisition will revitalise the financially struggling village. The decision, made by the Dolton Village Board on Tuesday, comes as the community grapples with significant debt and depleted bank accounts.
Pope Leo XIV, born Cardinal Robert Prevost, made history in May when white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel, signifying his election as Pope Francis’s successor and the first pontiff from the United States. Since his elevation, his modest two-story childhood home in Dolton, located about 20 miles south of Chicago, has become a pilgrimage site, drawing visitors from across the country. Prevost was born in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighbourhood in 1955 and grew up in Dolton, attending St. Mary of the Assumption for Mass and elementary school before studying theology and teaching in local Catholic schools.
