{"id":15536,"date":"2026-06-01T22:58:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/chicago-mayor-sees-pope-leo-xiv-as-key-ally-on-social-justice-migration-after-vatican-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:58:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:28:53","slug":"chicago-mayor-sees-pope-leo-xiv-as-key-ally-on-social-justice-migration-after-vatican-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/chicago-mayor-sees-pope-leo-xiv-as-key-ally-on-social-justice-migration-after-vatican-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago mayor sees Pope Leo XIV as key ally on social justice, migration after Vatican meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_nP9zWi4wyAQ?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>ROME (AP) \u2014 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson cast <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/pope-leo-xiv\">Pope Leo XIV<\/a> as a powerful global ally on social justice, migration and reparations after meeting the Chicago-born pontiff at the Vatican, saying their shared roots and priorities could help amplify efforts to protect vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the mayor of Chicago, we are incredibly elated and proud of him,\u201d Johnson told The Associated Press in an interview Friday, a day after meeting the American pope in a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pope-leo-chicago-brandon-johnson-visit-vatican-be911f2d93bbbfe300a1bbfc972bc183\">private audience<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor said it was comforting to know that someone who comes from the city of Chicago \u201ccan speak to justice\u201d and defend \u201cthe most vulnerable among us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, a first-term progressive Democrat leading the third-largest U.S. city, traveled to Rome with a delegation of some 50 local officials, drawing strong media interest. He is a leading critic of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump\">U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> and has applauded Leo for pushing back against the war in Iran and Trump administration immigration policies.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said he used the meeting to thank the pope \u201cfor his courage and his strength and particularly his moral stance,\u201d framing the encounter as a convergence of civic leadership and moral authority.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the meeting underscored areas of alignment between Chicago\u2019s policy agenda and the pope\u2019s emphasis on social justice, particularly on the legacy of slavery and the treatment of migrants.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said the pontiff\u2019s apology for the Catholic Church\u2019s role in slavery reinforced his administration\u2019s push for reparations, including efforts to fund a task force examining the lasting impact on Black Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that the pope made a very clear declaration apologizing for the church\u2019s role in slavery \u2026 is an affirmation to the work that we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson stressed the visit reflects an effort to position Chicago within a broader international push for human rights, with the pope\u2019s global influence lending weight to the city\u2019s agenda on justice, migration and reparative policies \u2014 and potentially extending that message well beyond the U.S.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Focus on migrants\u2019 conditions amid US crackdown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Migration was also central to their discussion. Johnson said Pope Leo asked directly about conditions in Chicago following a broader U.S. immigration crackdown and efforts to deport migrants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wanted to know the conditions on the ground in Chicago \u2026 how we were responding,\u201d Johnson said, adding the pontiff was aware of \u201cthe mass effort to deport immigrants from the city of Chicago and really around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson described outlining the city\u2019s response to migrants facing fear and uncertainty, including rapid-response efforts to ensure families had access to schools and basic necessities. He also highlighted executive actions intended to shield migrants, saying Chicago\u2019s approach has been adopted by other municipalities.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson framed the meeting as the beginning of broader cooperation between city government and the Vatican. \u201cWe talked about how his pulpit and my pen can come together to protect all of humanity,\u201d he said, referencing both descendants of enslaved people and immigrant communities.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor also emphasized the shared Chicago background, saying the city\u2019s history of activism makes it \u201cuniquely positioned for this moment.\u201d On Thursday, he marked the visit by presenting Leo with a key to the city and inviting him to celebrate Mass in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s at least the second official invitation that Leo has received to visit the United States. U.S. Vice President JD Vance invited Leo soon after he became pope last May.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press writer Silvia Stellacci in Rome contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/01\/chicago-mayor-sees-pope-leo-xiv-as-key-ally-on-social-justice-migration-after-vatican-meeting\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROME (AP) \u2014 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson cast Pope Leo XIV as a powerful global ally on social justice, migration and reparations after meeting the Chicago-born pontiff at the Vatican, saying their shared roots and priorities could help amplify efforts to protect vulnerable communities. \u201cAs the mayor of Chicago, we are incredibly elated and proud [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}