Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson went to the Vatican with a message, an invitation, and what may be the most aggressively Chicago gift bag ever delivered to a pope.
During a private meeting Thursday with Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff and lifelong White Sox fan, Johnson presented him with the key to the city and formally invited him to return home to celebrate Mass in Grant Park, echoing St. John Paul II's historic 1979 visit to Chicago. The pope did not commit to a trip, but the mayor said he hoped Leo would come back to the city in 2027.
The gifts, described by the city and reported by local outlets, was a Chicago care package assembled by every neighborhood, parish, sports team and activist group in town. There was a Chicago White Sox hat with the Italian flag, a Pope Leo Cubs jersey, Cubs hats, a Chicago Sky hat and jersey, a Chicago flag, a tote bag, a ceremonial street sign and, naturally, J.P. Graziano giardiniera. There were also Frango mints, honey from rooftop hives, Field Notes products, books, letters from detained immigrants' families and pins tied to Chicago's sanctuary city identity and community ICE watch efforts.
It was also, unmistakably, a political gift bag.
Among the items were an "Immigrants Make America Greater" hat, letters from families affected by detention, a sanctuary city pin and a silver dove necklace representing peace, alongside notes from families detained by ICE. Johnson, a progressive Democrat and critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, said the meeting included discussion of migration, social justice and immigration enforcement in Chicago.
The meeting came weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Pope Leo and gave him a small crystal football bearing the State Department seal. Leo's reported reaction, "Wow. OK," became an instant internet moment, especially because the pope is famously a baseball guy. Rubio joked about what to get "someone who has everything." The pope gave him an olive-wood pen symbolizing peace.
Chicago apparently took that as a challenge.
It was an honor to share time with a magnificent human, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/ylalqZUeSb
— Mayor Brandon Johnson (@ChicagosMayor) May 29, 2026
Instead of one crystal football, Johnson's delegation brought the full hometown download: sports rivalries, immigrant advocacy, parish letters, civil rights history, giardiniera and enough hats to make the Swiss Guard look under-accessorized.
The sports diplomacy was unavoidable. Johnson is a Cubs fan. Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, is a White Sox loyalist. AP reported that the mayor still brought gifts from both teams, turning one of Chicago's most sacred rivalries into a Vatican peace offering. The Pope's smile said it all.
The result was a meeting that mixed civic pride, Catholic symbolism and Chicago humor. One delegation brought a crystal football. Chicago brought snacks, theology, baseball, labor history, immigrant letters and a tote bag.
For a Pope from the South Side, it may have been less a gift exchange than a reminder: You can leave Chicago, but Chicago will absolutely find a way to send you giardiniera.
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