Pope Leo's Chicago roots: His grandfather's intriguing immigration tale
CHICAGO — Pope Leo's connection to Chicago is by now well known to the masses but long before he was born and raised in Dolton, his ancestors left the old world of Italy to begin a new life in America.
Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana t. Spyropoulos started at adeep dive into the genealogy as soon after Pope Keo was chosen.
Before his ascension to lead the Catholic Church, he was known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, or 'Father Bob,' as his friends knew him throughout most of his priesthood as an Augustinian.
'… We initially looked for a document by the name of Prevost,' Spyropoulos said. 'We couldn't find anything there. Bbut we did a little further digging on the internet of genealogy, and we made the connection between the name of Riggatono and the name of Prevost and found the document declaration of intention.'
More: Village of Dolton considering acquiring Pope Leo XIV's childhood home
Salvatore Riggatono was born in June of 1876 in Milazzo, a town in the province of Messina, Italy. He took a ship to New York City like many immigrants to make new life in a new country.
'Salvatore Riggatono came to the United States in 1905 but applied for citizenship in 1920. He is the grandfather of the current pope, Pope Leo,' Spyropoulos said
Riggatono spent some time living with his sister in Quincy, Illinois before coming to Chicago. In time he changed his last name to Prevost which evidently was his mother-in-law's maiden name.
'Apparently back then you had to go through a three-step process,' Spyropoulos said. 'The first was the declaration of intention. You have to say what's your name, what's your occupation was where you came from, where you are currently living. So Mr. Riggatono was living at 1718 Greenleaf Ave. which is Rogers Park I believe. (We also had to name) … what ports in Italy he came from, who he was married to. And you had to renounce your allegiance to other countries and other governments.'
Riggatono never did become a U.S. citizen for reasons unknown.
Pope Leo's mother's family was from the Caribbean before emigrating to New Orleans and then eventually in Chicago.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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