The Chicago Pizza Place Honoring Pope Leo With His Own Menu Item

As soon as word hit that the newly crowned Pope Leo XIV was from Chicago, you knew you were going to hear a lot about pizza. Chicago is a city with a proud and expansive food culture, but along with hot dogs and Italian beef, pizza is one of the symbols of The Windy City. Chicago-founded hot dog chain Portillo's got in the game early, renaming its popular Italian beef sandwich "The Leo" for the month of May to honor the new pontiff, and local spots have been celebrating with items such as Pope-themed cookies. But maybe the biggest Chicago food news tied to Pope Leo has been centered around what might be his favorite pizza spot. It turns out that, according to the restaurant's owner and CEO, the new Pope is a big fan of Chicago-style thin crust pizza at a local chain called Aurelio's.

Just a few short months before becoming Pope, the man who has previously gone by Cardinal Robert Prevost was back home visiting family and stopped into the Aurelio's location in Homewood, Illinois – a South Chicago suburb not far from his hometown of Dolton. According to the restaurant's president, Joe Aurelio, in an interview with 9News Australia (via TikTok), Prevost ordered a pepperoni pizza while dining there, and in honor of the new Pope's order, the chain will be selling a "pope-erroni" pizza, although it's not clear if there will be anything unique about it other than the name. Aurelio's in Homewood has also designated a special "Pope's Table" where he ate during his visit, complete with a new chair from a local church.

Aurelio's is one of the oldest pizzerias in the area. While there are now 35 locations in several states, Homewood was the site of the original Aurelio's founded in 1959 by Joe Aurelio, the father of the chain's current president. The company became the first Chicago-area pizza chain to franchise in the 1970s, but has mostly stayed a local affair. While there are locations in Florida, Las Vegas, and Minnesota, the other 32 are all clustered to the south and west of Chicago in Illinois and northwest Indiana. Aurelio's has a variety of pizzas on its menu, but its specialty isn't deep dish, it's Chicago-style thin crust pizza. 

Often considered the true local style of pizza, with deep dish being derided as a tourist option, Chicago-style thin crust has what is described as a cracker crust and is cut into squares, similar to other Midwestern styles of pizza. It's also called tavern-style pizza because of its popularity as a bar food in local pubs, and is frequently served with crumbled sausage, making Pope Leo's preference for pepperoni a bit of an outlier. Just don't expect to find Aurelio's in Chicago itself. While the chain used to have locations in the city, the last one on Chicago's South Side closed earlier this year. So, if you are looking to sample the Pope's favorite pizza, you'll need to make a trip out to the 'burbs where he grew up.