{"id":23314,"date":"2025-11-19T18:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=23314"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:01:52","slug":"governor-pritzker-meets-with-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/23314-governor-pritzker-meets-with-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Pritzker Meets With Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><em>By Capitol News Illinois<\/em><br \/>\nbmoore@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/p>\n<p>Capitol News Illinois reports that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome today, with the two discussing the Trump administration&#8217;s aggressive immigration raids and the governor formally inviting the Chicago-born pontiff back for a visit to his hometown.<\/p>\n<p>The governor\u2019s office said that Pritzker and his wife, first lady MK Pritzker, met with the pope for 40 minutes, where they offered \u201cwell-wishes and deep gratitude&#8230; for his public service and for his positive representation of Chicago, Illinois, and the United States.\u201d\u00a0 Pritzker\u2019s chief of staff, Anne Caprara, also was present for the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>The governor wrote on social media afterward that it was \u201can honor\u201d to meet \u201ca son of Illinois\u201d and \u201cto express the pride and reverence of the people of this great state.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cPope Leo XIV\u2019s message of hope, compassion, unity and peace resonates with Illinoisans of all faiths and traditions,\u201d said Pritzker, who is Jewish.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich helped arrange the private audience, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Pritzker, a Democrat, diverges from many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.\u00a0 But the governor and pope have found common cause in their advocacy for the rights of immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>At the pope&#8217;s urging, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement last week condemning the \u201cindiscriminate mass deportation of people\u201d and calling for \u201can end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence\u201d against immigrants.\u00a0 Pope Leo, asked about the bishops\u2019 statement by reporters in Rome on Tuesday, said he was troubled by the \u201cextremely disrespectful\u201d way migrants have been treated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,\u201d the pope said. \u201cIf people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that.\u00a0 There are courts. There&#8217;s a system of justice.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pritzker told NBC 5 Chicago that Pope Leo \u201cwanted to hear my views and asked a few questions about what the situation is on the ground right now\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to a discussion of immigration, Pritzker brought \u201cgood tidings from Chicago\u201d \u2014 and a formal invitation for the pontiff, born in the city and raised in suburban Dolton, to visit.\u00a0 The last time a pope visited Chicago was 1979, when Pope John Paul II held a three-hour Mass for worshipers in Grant Park.<\/p>\n<p>The Pritzkers presented Pope Leo with a series of gifts, including art from an incarcerated woman at Logan Correctional Center, the book \u201cLincoln: The Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation\u201d by Ian Hunt, a copy of MK Pritzker\u2019s book on the history of the Illinois Governor\u2019s Mansion, and a pack of Chicago-based Burning Bush Brewery\u2019s Da Pope American Mild Ale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll put that in the fridge,\u201d the pope said, according to video from Catholic television network EWTN.<\/p>\n<p>Pritzker is not the first Illinois elected official to receive an audience with Pope Leo.\u00a0 Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias met the pontiff in Rome last month, presenting him with a White Sox-themed Illinois specialty license plate.\u00a0 And Chicago Alderman Bill Conway made the pilgrimage in August.<\/p>\n<p><em>Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide.\u00a0 It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Capitol News Illinois bmoore@capitolnewsillinois.com Capitol News Illinois reports that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome today, with the two discussing the Trump administration&#8217;s aggressive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Governor Pritzker Meets With Pope - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/23314-governor-pritzker-meets-with-pope\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Governor Pritzker Meets With Pope - 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