John Melone, a parishioner at St. Veronica\u2019s in Flossmoor, stopped at Holy Name Cathedral Sunday morning as part of an annual family tradition of spending time together downtown Chicago for the holidays.<\/p>\n
Walking through the main doors, Melone and his family passed a cardboard cutout of Pope Leo XIV. It was days after the Chicago-born pontiff made his first Christmas message during one of the holiest times of year for Catholics.<\/p>\n
After morning Mass, the Flossmoor resident told the Sun-Times he is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d but said it was too early to judge the pontiff\u2019s tenure. He was one of many Chicagoans reflecting on Leo\u2019s tenure over the holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lifetime appointment, so it takes some time to get settled,\u201d Melone said. \u201cA lot of his early events were things that were already scheduled for Francis. It\u2019ll be interesting to see what he chooses to do once he has a little more control. \u2026 He\u2019s already helped the Bears, and we\u2019re hoping he\u2019ll do the same for the Sox.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parishioners stand next to a cardboard cut out of Pope Leo XIV in the main entryway of Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday December 28, 2025. <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Jim Vondruska\/Jim Vondruska\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A priest makes his way to the alter during Sunday mass at Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday December 28, 2025. <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Jim Vondruska\/Jim Vondruska\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n During his Christmas message Thursday, Leo urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything.<\/p>\n The pope remembered Palestinians in Gaza, \u201cexposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold,\u201d and talked about the fragility of \u201cdefenseless populations, tried by so many wars\u2019\u2019 and of \u201cyoung people forced to take up arms \u2026 and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n He also prayed for migrants in the Mediterranean and Americas, as well as the Yemeni people.<\/p>\n \u201cIn becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n Melone said he appreciated the way the previous pontiff, Pope Francis, ministered to the people, specifically speaking on social justice issues, and he hopes Leo will try to make his mark on Catholics by pushing them to bring good into the world through the actions they take to prove their faith.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of Catholics are looking for a pope who will push them towards being better Catholics, and then social justice comes as a product of that,\u201d he said. \u201cFrancis might\u2019ve been more oriented toward the actions, and I think some of us are looking for a clergy that\u2019ll push us toward a personal holiness that will lead to those actions.\u201d<\/p>\n John Melone stands for a portrait outside of the front entrance at Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday December 28, 2025. <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Jim Vondruska\/Jim Vondruska\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Estelle Martin, also at Sunday morning\u2019s Mass, said the pope is a \u201cbig part\u201d of her life, and she hoped more people would get in tune with religion as she has.<\/p>\n Martin \u2014 who attended Thornton Township High School, near where the Pope was raised \u2014 said she wanted to see the church do more for the impoverished.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he\u2019s done so far has been very positive,\u201d Martin said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s our obligation to support him. \u2026 These are very hard times. He\u2019s needed and welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharon Long, a 30-year parishioner at Holy Name Cathedral, said she saw a lot of Francis in his successor. She, too, wants to see more people brought into the faith.<\/p>\n Leo has previously criticized the spread of \u201cthe homosexual lifestyle<\/u><\/a>\u201d and didn\u2019t sit with trans women at a lunch tradition begun two years ago under Francis<\/u><\/a> but said he would appoint women to leadership roles, though not as deacons<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cGod accepts all people for who they are, and I hope the pope follows on that path and accepts everyone into the Catholic faith,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n![\"HOLYNAMEMASS-122925-9.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fb54aa3\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5894x3929+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fbb%2F15%2Fb431c6d946bc99f1c3a113f1da1d%2Fholynamemass-122925-9.jpg\")
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