A mouth-watering slice of American life arrived via special delivery from Chicago to Rome on Wednesday, landing in the blessed hands of a local boy who made good.
Pope Leo XIV was gifted a personal-size pie from Aurelio’s, a Chicagoland pie that’s been a longtime favorite of former Cardinal Robert Prevost, who went on to become the first American leader of the world’s Catholics.
A chain of friends in the Midwest hatched the idea of getting Pope Leo a box of his beloved pie, and Madeline Daley, a 22-year-old Cincinnati resident, ran the last leg of this trans-Atlantic delivery.
As the pontiff was being driven across St. Peter’s Square, she got his attention by waving the box off pizza. Leo then appeared to gesture to one of his security guards to accept the cheesy gift.
The pope was handed the box and he appeared to smile and warmly gesture at Daley, sending her into delirious screams.
“When Pope Leo came around, he kept grabbing babies to bless them, but as soon as he saw the pizza, he had babies in his hand, but he’s still saying, like, ‘Get me that pizza, I want that pizza,’” Daley told NBC News NOW’s “Top Story with Tom Llamas.”
“And seeing the logo made him light up, and his smile was from ear to ear and he was extremely excited about it.”
Joe Aurelio, president and CEO of Aurelio’s Pizza, called the papal delivery “amazing.”
“Pope Leo has been a lifetime Aurelio’s fan and going to Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood, Illinois, since the 1960s,” the pizza executive said. “So it’s been part of his life and for him to recognize [the pizza] and actually stop there in the audience was amazing.”
The pope devoured the 6-inch pepperoni pizza, his brother John Prevost told Chicago TV station WGN.
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