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On Thursday morning at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV met with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — and the American pope lit up.

Photographs from the audience show Leo grinning, leaning in, openly delighted in a way he rarely is in his diplomatic photo lines with heads of state. Johnson is the mayor of Leo’s hometown, a South Side kid made good, and Leo treated him like one.

The two met privately in the Apostolic Library before Leo received Johnson’s 46-person Chicago delegation — Catholic and Protestant clergy, a Methodist pastor, Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann of Mishkan Chicago, and labor, business, and hospitality leaders. They spoke about migrants, the dignity of working people, the U.S.’s history of slavery, Gaza, Cuba, and Haiti.

And then Johnson trolled him.

The mayor arrived bearing a swag bag of Chicago gifts — a key to the city, an invitation to celebrate Mass in Grant Park, and a Chicago Cubs hat. Leo, a lifelong White Sox fan who grew up on the South Side, refused to put it on.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Leo “made it very clear he was already wearing one” — gesturing to the white zucchetto on his head. The Cubs organization, undeterred, sent along a Cubs jersey and two more hats anyway.

It was a warm, funny, fundamentally American moment between two Chicagoans. Johnson left changed. “I witnessed an incredibly humble man,” he wrote afterward, “whose Chicago roots define the magnanimity of his leadership in this moment.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson@ChicagosMayor

It was an honor to share time with a magnificent human, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, yesterday.

7:10 AM · May 29, 2026 · 155K Views

441 Replies · 315 Reposts · 2.51K Likes

Donald Trump’s response was to attack the pope again.

On Saturday morning, hours after Johnson left Rome, the president posted on Truth Social: “Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!”

The Brandon Johnson swipe is the latest entry in seven straight weeks of Trump attacks on the American pope.

Here’s the entire backstory.