‘DA POPE!' Leo XIV's Chicago roots unleash spate of holy humor
A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself.
In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV's election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago's pizza and more loaded than its hot dog, seemingly irresistible to comics and commoners alike.
Stained-glass windows depicting a dunking Michael Jordan? A change in canon law to make ketchup-topped frankfurters a sin? Cameos in 'The Bear'? All of it apparently as tempting as the forbidden fruit.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'You just saw a billion jokes,' says Chad Nackers, who was raised Catholic and now presides as editor-in-chief of The Onion, the satirical site that heralded Robert Prevost's elevation with an image of the smiling pontiff encased in a poppyseed-dotted bun.
'Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope,' read the headline.
The pageantry of the church and the idea of a man who acts as a voice for God, Nackers says, combine for fertile humorous ground no matter the pontiff. Having him hail from the U.S., though, and a city as distinct as Chicago, opens up a whole new world of funny.
'It's just kind of ripe for humor,' Nackers says.
'DA POPE!' blared the front of the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, one of countless spins on the city's unique accent, immortalized in 'Saturday Night Live' sketches. No matter how Pope Leo XIV actually appears, in this realm of humor, he's a mustachioed everyman who swaps his Ts for Ds and his zucchetto for a Bears cap.
With the Second City in the spotlight, more Chicago tropes were trotted out than even the famed namesake improv troupe could dream up. The popemobile traded for the Dodge Monaco made famous in 'The Blues Brothers'? Check. Twists on city-set shows and movies like 'Chicago Hope,' er, 'Chicago Pope'? Yup. Dreams of Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches and the Chicago liqueur Malört taking the place of the bread and wine of communion? Yes, chef. Over and over again.
In sports-loving Chicago, city teams were spun in a swell of papal humor. Initial belief that the pope's baseball loyalties were with the Cubs led content creator Caitlin Hendricks to muse that Leo ironically hates the Cardinals. As it turns out, though, it appears the man in white roots for the White Sox.
It didn't stop those in Wrigleyville from eating up pope memes and feeling hometown pride. At the Sports World shop, one woman came in asking for a Cubs jersey with Pope Leo XIV's name splayed across the back. Down the street at Wrigleyville Sports, Chad Grant said he wouldn't hate Leo for rooting for the Sox, but that 'I just feel bad, because he's been used to losing for a little while.'
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Late-night hosts, too, had a ball with an American's ascension.
Jimmy Fallon mused of 'deep-dish communion wafers' from a pope known as 'Bobby Bratwurst.' Stephen Colbert, a devout Catholic who performs in a studio with nearly as much stained glass to rival St. Patrick's Cathedral, offered patriotic 'Pope-S-A' chants and mentions of 'da prayers' in thick Chicago tongue.
'I'm actually surprised by how excited I am,' Jimmy Kimmel said in his first monologue after the news. 'An American who grew up here, watched all the shows we watched, rooted for teams, is now in Rome at the head of the church … this must have been what it felt like when they opened the first Olive Garden.'
More will come, a cascade of Ferris Bueller jokes and asides on canonizing Mike Ditka. There will be Oprah exuberantly shouting 'You get a new pope! And you get a new pope!' And more memes of the pope in a dyed-green Chicago River or atop its shiny 'Cloud Gate' bean than anyone can count.
'There's just a lot of joy in the city right now,' says Ashley Lenz, a theologian in Chicago who works for the Catholic prayer app Hallow. 'There's a certain delight of seeing something sacred break into the ordinary. The idea of a pope who's stood in line at Portillo's or cheered on the Sox makes it all feel closer to home. It makes the papacy feel human again.'
___
Associated Press writer Melina Walling contributed to this report from Chicago.
___
Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Province
18 minutes ago
- The Province
These are the celebs who are attending Jeff Bezos' Venice wedding
Published Jun 26, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read Kim Kardashian boards a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. VENICE, Italy — Oprah Winfrey arrived in Venice on Thursday, leading a star-studded guest list of celebrities descending on the lagoon city for the weekend wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Winfrey's private jet landed at Venice's Marco Polo airport. Former American footballer Tom Brady arrived shortly afterwards. The details of the nuptials have been a tightly kept secret, though the guest list has firmed up as have the reported locations for the three days of parties and receptions, including a cloister in the Cannaregio district, the San Giorgio island and the Arsenale district best known as the venue for the Biennale art fair. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Oprah Winfrey prepares to board a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Kim Kardashian boards a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Kris Jenner walks to board a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Tom Brady prepares to board a taxi boat after landing at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Khloe Kardashian walks to board a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos' wedding on June 26, 2025. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner board a taxi boat after their arrival at Venice Marco Polo airport on June 24, 2026. Photo by STEFANO RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images Fashion designer Diane Von Fürstenberg arrives at Venice Marco Polo airport on June 24, 2026. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP via Getty Images Full Screen is not supported on this browser version. You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen. Veneto governor Luca Zaia has said the extravaganza is costing between 40 million and 48 million euros (US$46.7 million to $56 million). He told reporters this week that it would bring 90 private jets to the Treviso and Venice airports and a celebrity quotient that would 'bring visibility and promotion' to Venice that he said was worth more than five American Super Bowls. Here's a look at the who's who of the Bezos-Sanchez nuptials. The bride and groom pulled into the Aman Hotel dock on the Grand Canal on Wednesday, traveling via water taxi with security boats in tow. A few hours later they slipped out of the hotel, with Sanchez wearing a sleek black and white striped, one-shoulder gown. Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their three children arrived Wednesday. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Other celebrities on the guest list, according to two people close to the wedding who spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, include: — Kim Kardashian — Mick Jagger — Leonardo DiCaprio — Orlando Bloom — Microsoft founder Bill Gates — Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller — Katy Perry had originally been expected but the latest update had her as not attending. The wedding has divided Venice, with some activists protesting it as an exploitation of the city by the billionaire Bezos while ordinary residents suffer from overtourism, high housing costs and the constant threat of climate-induced flooding. One group called Extinction Rebellion staged a small protest in St. Mark's Square on Thursday featuring a masked bride and groom and people holding posters decrying climate change and income inequalities. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The planet is burning but don't worry, here's the list of the 27 dresses of Lauren Sanchez,' read one, a reference to the bride's reported wedding weekend wardrobe. Protesters said that their plans to disrupt the arrivals of guests at one of the wedding venues forced organizers to move the event to the more secure Arsenale area beyond Venice's congested centre. The city administration has strongly defended the nuptials as keeping with Venice's tradition as an open city that has welcomed popes, emperors and ordinary visitors alike for centuries. 'We will always respect the right to speak out, but we reject every form of intolerance and prejudice,' Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in Thursday's edition of Italian newspaper Il Foglio Quotidiano . 'No one in Venice can claim the right of deciding who can enter, who can love, who can celebrate.' Bezos donated 1 million euros each to three environmental research organizations working to preserve Venice, according to Corila, the Venetian environmental research association. — Winfield reported from Rome. Read More
Vancouver Sun
20 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
Travel eats: Exploring Canada's connection to Hong Kong's innovative cuisine
When it comes to Chinese food, Metro Vancouver prides itself on its expansive traditional Chinese restaurants. But how do we fare, comparatively? As I found out on a recent trip, Hong Kong trounces us. For starters, it has seven three-Michelin stars, 11 two-stars, and 38 one-stars, as well as 64 Bib Gourmands. This year, two Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong scored second and third spots at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. When it comes to innovative modern Chinese cuisine, we're barely out of the gate. Two cutting-edge Chinese restaurants I dined at in Hong Kong are run by Canadian-raised chef-owners. One, chef Vicky Cheng (Auberge du Pommier and Canoe in Toronto and Daniel in New York), operates Wing restaurant, which placed 11th in the World's 50 Best Restaurants last week and placed third on the Asia's 50 best list earlier this year. He also runs the one-Michelin-star VEA. While VEA offers Chinese food with a tweezered French personality, at Wing he focuses on China's Eight Great Cuisines with an haute approach — and sometimes eye-popping, as with a vibrant Harbin-style apple-wood smoked braided eggplant dish I had — a visual knockout. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Innovative Chinese cuisine is relatively new to Hong Kong, too, Cheng said. 'It's a culture that embraces tradition. It's got such a rich history and such respect for the masters that chefs don't dare change.' But since Cheng didn't train under Chinese chefs, he did dare when he opened VEA 10 years ago. 'I call it boundary-less Chinese cuisine. While it is not 100 per cent traditional, it is 100 per cent Chinese. When I opened VEA, it was very controversial. We were the first to do Chinese and French together. But now, it's getting more and more popular.' He's blown away by ingredients from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. 'In my mind, Hong Kong's a better place for ingredients (than Toronto or New York). The amount of variety is insane. Some of the best produce I've ever had is from China. Most people have never had blueberries from Yunnan. Most haven't had a mango from Sanya, a small island we call the Hawaii of China,' he says. And now I have, thanks to my dinner at Wing, and I can tell you the blueberries gave me actual thrills! Big as marbles, sweet, and humbling. Ditto the cantaloupe, mango, and lychee, all seductively sweet and at their peak. At Hong Kong's wet markets, Cheng says 'there's always a sense of discovery.' A favourite ingredient is dried seafood. 'It's a true representative of Chinese cuisine' he says, holding a large, dried collagen and protein-rich fish maw (the swim bladder). 'It's been aging for 20 years and almost has a texture like mochi (when cooked),' he says. I had it in a dish with yellow fungus and rice with abalone sauce. He also showed me two giant dried sea cucumbers covered in white ash. 'After soaking for a week, it'll almost double in size,' he said. A braised version appeared later tucked inside a spring roll, marinated and moist, with a slight chew and elevated with a glossy sauce. The tasting menu at Wing included dishes with firefly squid and bull kelp, oysters, house-made transparent 'golden crystal duck egg,' 'drunken' abalone, silver pomfret with mandarin peel with fermented black beans, king crab with crispy cheung fun (steamed rice roll), white asparagus with shrimp paste cured pork. The wow! dish was a glazed, crisp-skinned smoked pigeon, dry-aged 43 days and smoked over sugarcane, served on hay, along with the roasted head, on which my husband crunched and munched. (Call me a coward. I have this thing about eating anything with eyes that stare back.) Chef Alvin Leung, a.k.a. Demon Chef, is another Canadian making a difference. He shocked and astonished the traditionalists with his two-Michelin star Bo Innovation (three-Michelin for a few years). He also runs Michelin-recommended Cafe Bau in Hong Kong, and other global restaurants, including R & D, an Asian fusion restaurant in Toronto. You might remember him as an outspoken judge on MasterChef Canada. When Bo Innovation opened in 2017 with its provocative 'X-treme' Cantonese cuisine, he enlisted molecular gastronomy moves and bad-boy creations such as — blush — Sex on the Beach, an edible condom filled with honey and ham. (Proceeds from the dish were donated to an AIDS organization.) It has, at times, been called the El Bulli of the East. But I visited his two-year-old Cafe Bau, which, unusual for Hong Kong is stubbornly a low carbon, farm-to-table enterprise. Over 90 per cent of products including beef, poultry, pork and seafood, are local and nothing is flown in. Wines arrive by sea rather than air. Rice is from an almost one hectare co-operative farm on nearby Lantau Island. The star of the eight-course tasting menu was a whole roasted local Ping Yuen chicken bred for taste, texture and higher fat content. It was brined in coconut milk, dry aged, stuffed with lemongrass, pandan leaves and rosemary. It arrived in a wooden box, whole and steaming. The server ceremoniously opened it as he would a crown jewel. Upon carving, it was served with the local rice and a velvety sauce with chicken marrow and cartilage. Other dishes included blue crab jelly with housemade foamed cheese and heirloom tomato jelly tomato; jinga shrimp gado gado layered in mille feuille; two kinds of housemade ravioli with Chinese stuffing; pan-fried local perch with banana emulsion and minestrone broth; and Pat Chun (a premium Hong Kong soy sauce) pork knuckle zampone with egg confit and stem ginger. Another mover-shaker adding magic to Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong is Vicky Lau. She studied and worked in New York as a graphic designer and brings artistry and French influences to her Chinese menu. She, too, runs sustainable kitchens at Tate, her two-Michelin star restaurant, and Mora, which opened four years ago, earning one star and a Michelin Green Star for its sustainable practices. At Mora, soy is the star ingredient. Lau even operates a soy milk and tofu factory in Hong Kong, using organic Canadian soybeans. (A taster of her silky soy milk was the best that has passed my lips!) Lau, named Best Female Chef by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2015, wows guests with soy's versatility and low-impact soy products. The Mora tasting menu included dishes such as soy mascarpone, with pickled cucumber, green olive grains and soy yogurt foam whipped into a yubu tart shell; geoduck 'noodles' in a soy milk and clam broth, with seaweed and fresh yuba. Deep-fried tofu, even gentler souled than agedashi, was brightened with sesame sauce, dill oil, pine nuts and preserved radish. Chicken roulade got razzle-dazzled with mapo tofu sauce; mushroom rice became addictive with soybean paste, chicken fat, and Chinese ham. But Lau's Tate restaurant is an 'you eat with your eyes' haute experience, each of seven courses, an 'ode to' an ingredient. After three canapés, the Ode to Century Egg course arrives and it's beautiful — a circular presentation of Alaska king crab and century egg covered with rose rice vinegar jelly. Over it, a symmetry of tiny, gelled cubes, aubergine, and croutons. A forestry braised mushroom dish included wood fungus from Yunnan, tree moss and a prized foraged red mushroom from the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian province (it grows for only two weeks). A zucchini flower was stuffed with scallop, tofu, abalone, scallop, langoustine and nested on coconut scallop velouté. Ode to Sakura was a meringue shell with fragile meringue sakura blossoms, lychee rice pudding, sakura tea sauce and a raspberry sorbet. A dried lotus flower tea ceremony followed. 'The symbolism of the lotus flower is strength, integrity and beauty,' our server said. 'It's our way of saying thank you. Now I will manually blossom the flower.' And blossom, it did. What a lovely end, we thought. But the actual finale was a Chinoiserie cabinet filled with petit fours (including chocolate hazelnut lollipops, lemon tarts with marshmallow topping, fortune cookies, canelés, choux pastries) wheeled up to us. I hushed the five-year-old in me and asked for just one — the lemon tart, whereas two young women at another table, less worried about waist expansion, chose about a half a dozen each. miastainsby@
Edmonton Journal
2 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Preview: Passion Play marks 30 years of bringing Bible story to the Badlands
Article content This is the third year the Passion Play has used the Matthew Gospel because it has proven so popular with audiences. Matthew was initially vilified because he was a tax collector, known as Levi. This is why he understood the plight of the prostitute Mary Magdalene. They were both outsiders whom Jesus welcomed into his inner circle, as symbols of his love and acceptance of everyone. 'The one thing I learned very quickly is that this is a very physical role. There are three hills I have to run up and down. By the end of the summer, I am going to be in the best shape I've been in for a long while. I'm grateful for the time when I get to ride on the donkey.' Suart, who was raised Catholic, says his religion has given him a proximity to the story. 'Jesus was the ultimate outsider. That's what I share with him. I'm coming into a group that has been working together for 30 years. I'm the manager of a restaurant, who is getting to play one of the most iconic roles imaginable. People keep asking me how my Jesus will be different. I tell them that the last few actors who played Jesus had long straight hair. The longer my hair grows, the curlier it gets, so they're going to see a curly-haired Jesus. The story is the same. The script we're using is the same. It will just be a physical thing. I do think I bring a smile and warmth to my characterization.' This year, the Badlands Arts Centre has completed a new indoor space that can be used year-round. Eventually, it will be used for a winter Nativity event, telling the birth of Christ. It will have a 270-degree projection wall that will be used for a Passion Play digital experience. This year's 30th anniversary production of the Badlands Passion Play will run weekends from July 5 through 20. The play runs approximately two and a half hours. The theatre is located on the outskirts of Drumheller. See
