First-ever pilgrimage celebrates Pope Leo with Mass, visits to papal boyhood landmarks
First anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election marked by a pilgrimage to his boyhood home in Dolton, Illinois. The event featured a Mass, a blessing of a portrait of the Pope, and visits to landmarks tied to his early life. Midwest Augustinians led the pilgrimage, with Father Anthony B. Pizzo officiating and local officials, including Dolton Mayor Jason House, attending. Chairman Vince Kolber of the Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation presented the portrait and helped coordinate the celebration.
5 months ago
The Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation organized its first pilgrimage on the first anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election, guiding participants from downtown Chicago to key sites of the pontiff’s childhood—Christ Our Savior Parish, the former St. Mary of the Assumption church, and the Pope’s boyhood home in Dolton, Illinois. The event combined a thanksgiving Mass, the display of the original tabernacle, prayers for the Pope, and discussions about preserving the historic church and revitalizing the surrounding community 1.
The journey began at Christ Our Savior Parish, the “de facto home parish” that now houses the tabernacle from St. Mary of the Assumption 1.
Father Joshua Caswell concelebrated a Mass of thanksgiving, emphasizing Pope Leo’s sole agenda of “the salvation of souls” 1.
St. Mary’s former campus, listed on Preservation Chicago’s “Seven Most Endangered” list, is slated for landmark status and conversion into an oratory 1.
Owner Joe Hall plans a $15.2 million workforce‑development hub on the site, partnering with the foundation and Preservation Chicago 1.
Parish pastor Father Gosbert Rwezahura noted a rise in young families attending Mass since the Pope’s election, attributing renewed interest to the pilgrimage’s visibility 1.
The foundation, currently funded by Vince Kolber, distributed “ways to support” forms during a post‑Mass breakfast 1.
Midwest Augustinian superior Father Anthony B. Pizzo read an email from Pope Leo XIV—his former Villanova classmate—offering “best wishes” and praising the use of the boyhood home for social development 1.
The Pope’s message, also delivered in Pompeii, called for love, unity, and peace 1.
The house, now owned by the Village of Dolton, was blessed, a portrait of the Pope was hung, and plans for a museum were mentioned as a long‑term goal 1.
Local officials and the Greater Chicagoland Black Chamber of Commerce are collaborating with the foundation to promote revitalization 1.
Investigate the Catholic Church’s practice of commemorating popes through pilgrimages
The Catholic Church does not treat “pilgrimages to commemorate popes” as a single, separate, formally defined practice on the same level as, say, a liturgical feast or a specific canonized devotion. However, the Church’s sources do show a consistent spiritual logic: pilgrimages are recommended as works of piety, the Roman Pontiffs themselves have enriched pilgrimages, and when the Church commemorates deceased popes in the Jubilee/papal prayer cycle, pilgrims are invited to unite their journey with prayer for the Roman Pontiff’s predecessors and with meditation on the meaning of the Christian pilgrimage.
Benedict XIV presents pilgrimages as beneficial works of devotion that the Church recommends, especially in the context of Holy Years. Importantly, he rejects the idea that pilgrimages are necessary for salvation. Rather, they are “organized with proper modesty and discipline” and are to be free of scandal.
“We do not insist on the necessity of sacred journeys, but simply recommend them as beneficial.”
He also explicitly frames the Church’s judgment as binding in matters of piety: the Church treats pilgrims’ journeys as “pious and devout works” when ordered by the Church’s governance and safeguarded against abuses.
For contemporary pastoral theology, John Paul II calls places of prayer and pilgrimage “milestones that guide the journey of the children of God on earth”—a strongly ecclesial and vocational framing rather than a merely symbolic one.
And in Jubilee teaching, John Paul II describes pilgrimage as an exercise of practical asceticism and interior preparation for conversion (“a change of heart”). This places pilgrimage in the moral-spiritual transformation of the person, not only in external acts.
A key element of “commemorating popes through pilgrimages” is that popes are not only remembered during pilgrimages; they also actively authorize, enrich, and frame them.
Pius XII—speaking specifically about Lourdes—notes that Roman Pontiffs, “conscious of the importance of this pilgrimage,” have never ceased to “enrich it with spiritual favors and generous benefits.”
This matters for your question because it establishes that Catholic pilgrimage culture is not merely private devotion. It is integrated into papal governance and papal beneficence—the Roman Pontiff uses spiritual authority to connect pilgrimage to the Church’s grace, discipline, and pastoral goals.
Even when pilgrimage is directed primarily to holy sites (often apostolic sites in Rome), the Church also deliberately commemorates popes liturgically.
A very direct example appears in John Paul II’s Mass homily for the souls of the deceased Popes Paul VI and John Paul I. He describes the “traditional celebration offered in suffrage” as taking “special significance and further spiritual effectiveness” within the Jubilee.
Crucially, he links that commemorative prayer to the meaning of the pilgrim’s life:
So, from the Church’s perspective, commemorating popes and the pilgrim’s spirituality are not parallel tracks; they converge through Jubilee grace and through the Church’s prayer for the Roman Pontiff’s predecessors.
The provided sources do not give a detailed manual explaining “how to commemorate popes” during a pilgrimage. Still, they supply the theological and historical bridge.
First, Rome pilgrimages are described as movements toward specific apostolic and ecclesial realities: people traveled to see and venerate the trophies (tomb-related witness) of Peter and Paul and also approached the Roman Church to contemplate its royal majesty.
The same passage notes that, as early as the fourth century and into later periods, many pilgrims came from across regions—sometimes connected with professing orthodox faith at the apostolic shrines.
Second, Catholic apologetic tradition associates the universal Church’s identity with pilgrimages to apostolic tombs. Bellarmine states that the “consensus of the whole world” is witnessed especially by pilgrimages to the tombs of the Apostles, with countless people streaming to Peter and Paul’s tombs.
Put together, these sources support a coherent conclusion: pilgrimage “to Rome’s sacred centers” naturally forms part of the Church’s memory of the Roman See, because Rome’s apostolic foundations are inseparable from the succession and governance exercised through the papacy. The sources do not explicitly say “therefore, include the pope’s tomb as a commemorative station,” but they do show that Roman pilgrimage is already ecclesiologically saturated with Peter, the Roman Church, and the Church’s apostolic continuity.
This is also why John Paul II, addressing a national pilgrimage to Rome, frames the journey as coming to the apostles’ tombs “to renew and enrich” faith through the experience of the shared journey and prayer.
The Church is careful about two kinds of distortion relevant to any “commemorating popes by pilgrimage” practice:
External and moral disorder (scandal, abuses, disorderly conduct).
Benedict XIV states that prelates ensured pilgrimages were “properly conducted and free from all scandal,” and he addresses corruptions and nonsense infecting pilgrimages.
Misunderstanding the object of worship (what may be honored vs. what may be worshiped).
A liturgical-study source warns against encouraging an attitude that would lead to “a sort of divinization of the saints and a deviation of liturgical worship.”
While that warning is explicitly about saints, the underlying principle applies more broadly: honor and prayer for the Church’s holy members (including popes) must not be confused with worship due to God alone. The Church’s own insistence that pilgrims act with modesty, discipline, and ecclesial oversight protects against distortions of devotion.
Catholic teaching supports pilgrimages as works of piety—especially within Jubilee/Holy Year structures—whose deeper meaning is interior conversion and readiness to follow Christ.
Regarding your specific topic, the sources show that the Church commemorates popes in two converging ways:
At the same time, the Church insists pilgrimages must remain well-ordered and free from scandal, and devotion must not slip into distortions of worship.