“When white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City in May 2025, it was like lightning struck the Far South Side of Chicago. The revelation that the newly selected Pope Leo XIV hailed from Dolton brought media and onlookers from all over the world to his childhood home just south of the city. They also flocked to the church and parish school in Chicago’s Riverdale neighborhood that the pontiff, born Robert Prevost, attended growing up.

“A year later, as some of that attention has subsided, efforts to restore and establish as historic sites the properties where Prevost grew up and received his religious education are slowly moving forward amid financial and structural challenges.

“The church where the Prevost family worshipped throughout the future pope’s adolescence, St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, is a modernist building constructed in 1957 and sits on a property at East 137th Street and South Leyden Avenue that also includes the parish school Prevost attended. … [Owner Joe Hall] wants to open up the church as a historic site with exhibits about the pope and the church’s background. Ultimately, Hall envisions working with a developer on a $16 million project that would include a boutique hotel on the site, a theatre in the basement of the school and a hub providing social services.

“‘My personal pledge is to make sure I do whatever I can to preserve the legacy of the first American pope that happens to be from Dolton, Illinois,’ Hall said. ‘The second thing, and what has always been our main and top priority, is the community and providing these skills and providing employment for locals.’

“In the meantime, the church’s roof has been tarped to protect the property from more damage. Dan Dorman, president of construction company Metropolitan, did the work for free. As a Dolton native who attended the church for about 20 years, he felt like he had to do something, he said. Dorman said he plans to do more work on the property and hopes others will contribute to the effort, since getting the church fixed and operational would be a relatively small project.

“‘No matter what, I love saying I’m from Dolton. I love saying that to anybody, and now I like saying it even more,’ he said. ‘I don’t expect Dolton to make a turnaround or anything like that, but I think they could make that corner something really special.’

“Hall is in the process of pursuing city and federal landmark status for the property, which Preservation Chicago named to its annual list of most endangered structures in March.” (Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business, 6/17/26)

“Preservation Chicago executive director Ward Miller told OSV News, ‘When we realized the pope was from this church, our awareness level increased dramatically. We made a tour of the building following this announcement.’

“Father [Joshua Caswell] told OSV News some months ago that he was giving a visiting bishop from Poland a tour of the church and the pope’s childhood home, when the bishop suggested the Chicago Archdiocese act quickly to preserve the church and pope’s home.

“‘Because he had seen what had happened in Wadowice, Poland, the homeland of John Paul II, he said, “You have to get ahead of this, because in time this will be a major shrine.”‘

“[Father Caswell] brought up the possible preservation efforts at a recent presbyteral meeting of the archdiocese and said Cardinal Blase J. Cupich assigned him — on the spot — to look into it. Father Caswell then connected with Vince Kolber and became a board member of the [Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation].” (Orendain, OSV News, 5/12/26)

Preservation Chicago named St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and School to our 2026 Chicago 7 Most Endangered Buildings list in March, and we are actively engaged in the effort to save it. We joined the Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation’s inaugural pilgrimage to the site in May 2026, and we have brought preservation efforts before the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Our online petition — Save the Pope’s Church! — calls on the City of Chicago todesignate St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and School a Chicago Landmark.

The building requires immediate attention. The church has a hole in the roof, broken windows, water damage to the floors, and graffiti behind the former altar. The school building is in similarly fragile condition. Thanks the efforts of Scott Kuzminski and Dan Dorman, the roof has been tarped against further weather damage. Owner Joe Hall is committed to a long-term restoration and adaptive reuse plan, but the $1.7 million initial stabilization phase has been slow to fund, and the clock is running. Every Chicago winter that passes without envelope repairs deepens the damage.

These buildings are in need of immediate stabiliation and temporary repairs, with a long-term goal of full restoration of the entire campus. We would very much like to see a partnership form to save these buildings and tell the story of this world leader. An initial step in this process would be a Chicago landmark designation of the buildings of this campus, with a plan to methodically restore and repurpose each of the buildings for community use. This complex should become a visitors’ site, an oratory or shrine — our first American Pope is a world leader, and from Chicago.

The Polish bishop’s Wadowice comparison is not hyperbole. John Paul II’s childhood home in Wadowice became one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Poland within years of his election. Visitors came not just to see a house but to understand a man — and through him, to understand something about the place and the faith that formed him. Robert Prevost grew up serving as an altar boy at St. Mary of the Assumption. His mother, Mildred Prevost, worked as a librarian in the school. Ten of his eighth-grade classmates from this parish traveled to St. Peter’s Square in March 2026, and the Pope held up their 1969 class photograph and signed it “Leo XIV.” This is a place of genuine historical and human significance, and it needs strong decisive support.

Preservation Chicago urges the City of Chicago to move forward with Chicago landmark designation for St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and School. We urge the Archdiocese of Chicago to engage with Hall, the Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation, and the broader coalition that is forming around this site.

We urge donors and funders to support the initial stabilization work through JBlendz Enterprises and the Pope Leo XIV American Legacy Foundation.

And we urge all who care about Chicago’s history — and about the first American pope — to sign our petition at the link below.

Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business

• Efforts to preserve Pope Leo’s Dolton roots inch forward; Rachel Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business, 6/17/26
• Sign the Petition: Save the Pope’s Church!
• Work underway to renovate Pope Leo’s childhood church in Chicago area, NBC 5 Chicago, 5/7/26
• First-ever pilgrimage celebrates Pope Leo with Mass, visits to papal boyhood landmarks; Simone Orendain, OSV News, 5/12/26
• Pope Leo XIV Reunites With His Eighth Grade Classmates; Amira Abuzeid/EWTN News, National Catholic Register, 3/23/26
• St. Mary’s / St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and School (Pope Leo XIV’s Childhood Church and School) 2026 Chicago 7 Most Endangered chapter