Thousands from all over the world surrounded Jeanne Rattenbury as she prepared to watch Pope Leo XIV speak Wednesday at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
As she listened to messages in Arabic and Chinese, among other languages, she felt strongly that faith was connecting people from all walks of life. What she called the “universal church” perhaps lent more meaning to what she was about to do.
Rattenbury was one of about 30 Chicago-area clergy, religious leaders and laypeople who met Leo briefly at the weekly general audience to further advocate for immigrants detained in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview.
The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership provides pastoral care to those in the west suburban facility, which grew in prominence during and after Operation Midway Blitz, the monthslong aggressive immigration enforcement campaign waged in Chicago last year.
“It was great to be able to be a few feet away and to see that he’s aware of the work we’re doing in Chicago,” Rattenbury, 65, of West Ridge, told the Tribune.
The Chicago-born pope delivered a spiritual teaching about the relationship between faith and culture to the crowd and then addressed smaller groups, including the one from Chicago.
The delegation wore yellow T-shirts with a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe with her fist raised. They also carried a banner that said “The church needs your holy rebellion,” a reference to a quote from the pope himself.
Tiffany Swann-Covington, who is part of the social justice ministry at Our Lady of Africa Parish in Bronzeville, asked Leo for his “continued prayers and blessings” for their work at Broadview. She also asked the pope if he could film a recorded message for their 10th anniversary celebration next year.
“He just shook his head and moved his hand, saying, ‘Yes, yes, we’ll take care of that,’” the 69-year-old said.
She said she was shocked and surprised that she got to deliver this message, adding that she got to say much of what she rehearsed before time ran out. The group also gave Leo a photo album.
Another young woman from the group, Abigail Ortiz Valles, thanked him for his advocacy on behalf of migrants. She herself is a Mexican immigrant.
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“I told him that every time I visit Broadview, I encounter Jesus and His Passion … Forgive me, but I’m very emotional right now,” she told Vatican News.
Richard Spearman, of the St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, said a lot of the group got emotional hearing her story, and Leo appeared to as well.
He also seemed to be in good health, Spearman, 45, said. The pope was “energetic and lively,” and he didn’t appear to be in physical pain. Swann-Covington added that Leo was smiling and “very pleasant.”
Leo, 71, had the lower lobe of his right lung removed Oct. 13 after doctors found a tumor, later diagnosed as lung cancer. Subsequent tests indicated no further treatment is necessary, and the pope has been slowly resuming his daily activities.
A top Vatican official said Tuesday that although Leo is recovering well, the diagnosis is “a bit of a game-changer.”
“The fact that he has fallen ill with, in many ways, one of the most common illnesses of our age means that he is a poor mortal like the rest of us. And I think that that is going to change how we see him and possibly how he sees himself as well,” Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s foreign minister, told reporters at the Italian Foreign Press Association.
When the group was leaving, Spearman said they ran into others visiting from Chicago. They told him they had read articles about their work in Broadview and that they were “very proud.”
“I think it’s important that the world stage understands what these individuals are going through,” he said. “But it also can empower others to want to be a part of this coalition, not just in Chicago, but beyond, all over the country.”
The delegation’s visit to Rome has been months in the making. It was first floated by Executive Director Michael Okińczyc-Cruz while he joined Mayor Brandon Johnson on his visit to Rome in the spring, a spokesperson said.
In September, Okińczyc-Cruz delivered to Leo nearly a dozen letters from detainees who had passed through the processing center in Broadview. He also presented a yellow stole bearing images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that some of the detainees had signed.
“Today they detained me, and I’ve been here for hours. I’m not afraid of what will happen to me; I’m afraid of not being with my family,” one immigrant wrote to Leo. “Please pray for them and for the families of all the other detainees. It saddens me that simply going out to work has brought me to this moment.”
The exchange was brief, Okińczyc-Cruz said, but the pope “mentioned he was grateful for the work that we’re doing.”
The coalition challenged the Trump administration in court to allow clergy members into the Broadview facility, where “dehumanizing” conditions have been reported. They’ve since ministered to over 700 people in detention during 130 visits, a spokesperson said.
During this week’s visit, the delegation also met with the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a department that promotes human rights, both of which Rattenbury said were educational experiences.
Rattenbury, a member of St. Gertrude Catholic Church in Edgewater, said the coalition’s advocacy shows the “inherent dignity” of immigrants amid divisiveness in the country. She hopes the attention from meeting Leo advances this goal.
“Jesus Christ said to welcome the stranger, and this is what we’re called to do,” Rattenbury said. “The more people become aware of the work and of the issue, the more we can hope that hearts and minds will be changed.”
baiduhai’s Laura Rodriguez Presa and The Associated Press contributed reporting.