CHICAGO. Just a day after the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American to ascend to the papacy, the world has responded not just with awe, but with laughter. And at the epicenter of the humor? His hometown of Chicago.
From local newspapers to late-night television, social media memes to parody headlines, the Windy City is embracing the new pontiff with both reverence and riotous joy. “DA POPE!” proclaimed the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, mimicking the city’s famously nasal accent, instantly turning a religious milestone into a full-blown cultural moment.
“You just saw a billion jokes,” said The Onion editor-in-chief Chad Nackers, a Chicago native raised Catholic. The satirical publication welcomed Cardinal Robert Prevost’s elevation with a viral headline and image: “Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope,” featuring the smiling Leo XIV nestled inside a poppyseed bun.
Nackers explained that while the pageantry of the Catholic Church often lends itself to parody, this moment is special. “It’s just kind of ripe for humor,” he said. “The idea of a guy from Chicago now being the voice of God on Earth? You can’t write a better setup.”
Some jokes included imagined canon laws banning ketchup on hot dogs, stained-glass depictions of Michael Jordan dunking, and the suggestion that Leo might cameo in the hit Chicago-based series The Bear. Others went further, imagining communion wafers replaced with deep-dish pizza and Malört, Chicago’s infamous bitter liqueur, standing in for sacramental wine.
The pope’s hometown pride didn’t stop with food. The famed popemobile has been humorously replaced with the Blues Brothers’ Dodge Monaco, while city-themed parody titles like Chicago Pope have emerged alongside endless memes showing the pontiff in a Bears cap or emerging from a green-dyed Chicago River.
Even sports jokes found a home. When fans speculated that Pope Leo XIV might favor the Cubs, content creator Caitlin Hendricks quipped that he must hate the Cardinals—ironically, since he just left their ranks. It was later revealed that Leo actually supports the White Sox. At Wrigleyville Sports, a customer reportedly asked for a Cubs jersey emblazoned with the pope’s name. Nearby, store manager Chad Grant joked, “I just feel bad, because he’s been used to losing for a little while.”
Late-night comedians also jumped into the holy fray. Jimmy Fallon imagined “deep-dish communion wafers” served by a pope known as “Bobby Bratwurst.” Stephen Colbert, himself a devout Catholic, joked about “da prayers” in a thick Chicago accent, while Jimmy Kimmel said, “This must have been what it felt like when they opened the first Olive Garden.”
As the internet flooded with Ferris Bueller references and calls to canonize Mike Ditka, theologians reflected on the deeper meaning of this joyful outburst.
“There’s just a lot of joy in the city right now,” said Ashley Lenz, a theologian based in Chicago who works for the Catholic prayer app Hallow. “There’s a certain delight in 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.”
And if the city’s celebratory memes and quips are any indication, Pope Leo XIV has already performed a small miracle: uniting faith and humor, tradition and hometown pride, all in one delicious Chicago-style package.
Edgaroo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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- EDGARDO HERNALhttps://tutubi.ph/author/gary-hernal/
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