Editorial: Brandon Johnson's Roman retinue meets the Chicago pope

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Jun 1, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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It’s a Roman holiday for Mayor Brandon Johnson and a cross section of Chicago’s new elite.

Forty-six. That strikes us as a retinue more fitting for the likes of a presidential delegation than a mayor.

But this is no ordinary overseas trip. The mayor made a much-anticipated visit Thursday to the Vatican for a conversation with the Chicago pope. The meeting of these two high-profile Chicagoans is a proud moment for our city.

Rome is beautiful year-round, but Rome in springtime is a city in its prime. No doubt the mayor and his guests will stroll along many a piazza and indulge in a healthy helping of cacio e pepe and gelato.

Pope Leo XIV offers a great source of hometown pride for Chicago in particular at a time when many outsiders malign our city, and has brought a sense of renewal and energy to the American Catholic Church more broadly. Reporters visiting the Eternal City to cover Johnson’s tour have also shared accounts of Vatican City streets dotted with Chicagoans waving four-star flags. Johnson reportedly invited Leo to officiate Mass in Grant Park in 2027, an offer we hope the pope accepts.

Johnson is not the first Chicago mayor to meet the pope. Pope John Paul II famously visited Chicago in 1979, meeting Mayor Jane Byrne, a fellow Catholic, on her home turf.

Mayors have also made the pilgrimage to Rome for other ceremonies.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a Chicago delegation traveled to Rome in 2016 to honor Blase Cupich as he was elevated to the College of Cardinals. World Business Chicago picked up the tab for the mayor and his wife and a handful of officials, but not the others who joined him. Those guests relied on private or campaign funds to cover the cost of their trip. Notably, Mayor Johnson’s press office told us the same was true this time around. “Non-City and non-WBC members of the delegation covered individual travel expenses,” a spokesperson said, indicating that business, labor and faith leaders will be paying their own way. WBC said separately in a statement that funding for this trip came from private sector contributions.

Good. The mayor certainly wouldn’t have gotten an indulgence from city taxpayers if that had not been the case.

Still, Johnson’s trip to Rome is not without baggage, especially given its timing while Springfield has lots of unfinished business including where a certain football team plays future ball.

Johnson seemed eager to align himself rhetorically with Leo’s moral language on war, immigration and social justice. But while the two overlap on some issues, City Hall and the Vatican remain very different pulpits.

The inclusion of CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, although hardly a surprise, also stood out given her union’s long-running opposition to initiatives that benefit Catholic schools.

Still, we’re on the side of Chicago re-emphasizing its status as a global city and we’re all for making some Italian headlines that go beyond the usual bang, bang clichés that all Chicagoans who travel to Europe detest.

So peace be with the Chicago delegation, all 46 of them, and also with Chicago.

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