'A son of Chicago': High School where Pope Leo once taught celebrates history

CHICAGO (WGN) — Pope Leo XIV, elected on Thursday to replace the late Pope Francis, is an Augustinian priest. He is also a Chicago-area native and has many connections to St. Rita, an Augustinian High School.

There was a sense of excitement on Thursday that a son of the Windy City's South Side is now the leader of the worldwide Catholic faith. And not only that, but Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Father Thomas McCarthy has known Prevost for nearly four decades. They met in 1983. 

“Us Augustinians, we know Bob," McCarthy said. "We know who he is. We know the world is going to find out who he is. He’s just an unbelievably good, normal guy."

In fact, the two were emailing each other just one day before the start of the conclave.

“The last couple of weeks, every two or three days, just saying, ‘Bob, praying for you and the cardinals,’” he said. “And he’d always respond back, ‘Thank you, keep praying.”

McCarthy is now the director of community outreach at St. Rita High School.

On Thursday, the classrooms of the Augustinian high school were as joyous as the faithful in St. Peter’s Square in Rome to see an Augustinian priest become the pope. Prevost had also been a substitute teacher at St. Rita years ago. 

“When the announcement came, you heard an eruption through this school,” Deacon John Donahue said.

And for McCarthy, and all those with a connection to the man they once called “Bob,” there is a sense of pride that the Second City gave the church its first American pope.

“He truly is a son of Chicago,” he said.