Sixty years before he became Pope Leo XIV and the global leader of 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, Robert Francis Prevost was a quiet schoolboy and dutiful parishioner who always held his hands in the proper position to pray.
鈥淚 can still recall him doing this,鈥 said Noelle Neis, 69, who attended grade school and church with him at the old St. Mary of the Assumption in Dolton. 鈥淗e didn鈥檛 clasp his hands the wrong way like so many other kids. Even then, he just knew.鈥
Robert Francis Prevost is shown here in his eighth grade graduating class.
鈥淚 can still recall him doing this,鈥 said Noelle Neis, 69, who attended grade school and church with him at the old St. Mary of the Assumption in Dolton, Illinois. 鈥淗e didn鈥檛 clasp his hands the wrong way like so many other kids. Even then, he just knew.鈥
Nies, a former Portage, Indiana, resident who lives in Monee, Illinois, vividly recalls the earliest days of Prevost鈥檚 path of faith that would lead him to the Vatican.
鈥淗e was a pious boy,鈥 she said, carefully choosing her words. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like he was one of the goofballs in class. He was reserved. And his whole family was more on the serious side. They were just an ordinary family. A very good and nice family. But 鈥 ordinary.鈥
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Prevost鈥檚 mother, Mildred, had a sparkling personality and a wonderful singing voice, Nies said.
鈥淪he was in the plays at St Mary's with my mom. I remember her singing on stage,鈥 she said.
In one play, Prevost鈥檚 mother sang 鈥楲ydia, the Tattooed Lady,鈥 a 1939 song that first appeared in the Marx Brothers film 鈥淎t the Circus.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny to look back at that now, knowing that Robert would someday become Pope,鈥 Nies said. 鈥淲e never would have suspected that he was going to be a priest, let alone a bishop or cardinal or the Pope. Not in a million years would you think somebody you knew could become the Pope. It's like somebody you knew becoming a saint.鈥
This week, her phone has been blowing up with texts, calls and messages from media outlets across the country and around the world. When then-Cardinal Robert Prevost was part of the conclave to choose the next Pope, Nies shared a story about him on a Facebook page for her former school and church, St. Mary, which closed permanently years ago.
The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Illinois.
鈥淲hen I heard that Robert could be in the running to become Pope, I posted an article on the St. Mary's page,鈥 Nies said. 鈥淚 thought it was a private page, but somehow a Chicago newspaper reporter found my name and messaged me.鈥
That opened the floodgates for media requests from the New York Times, the BBC, Fox News and other international outlets, including ones from China and New Zealand. Nies, a close friend of my wife, spoke with me late Thursday night after a very busy and strange day.
鈥淎ll of these numbers kept popping up on my phone. I had to stop answering them,鈥 Nies said.
During our phone conversation, she received a text from her daughter.
鈥淪omebody from the show 鈥業nside Edition鈥 wants to talk to me,鈥 Nies said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been like this all day.鈥
Prevost, 69, was elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023, catching the attention of his former friends, classmates and church members at St. Mary鈥檚.
鈥淲e still keep in touch with each other on that Facebook page,鈥 Nies said. 鈥淲e also have been keeping up with Robert and his life as leader of the Augustinian Order.鈥
Pope Leo XIV is not only the first American-born pope. He鈥檚 the first pope to be a member of the Order of St. Augustine, a Catholic religious order with a global presence in about 50 countries.
Most recently, he served as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican, a position where he assisted Pope Francis in assigning bishops to dioceses around the world.
鈥淲hen he became cardinal, we knew he had a chance to be pope, but no one actually thought it would happen,鈥 said Nies, a practicing Catholic who has renewed hope for the Catholic Church.
鈥淎merican Catholics have been falling away through the decades. But maybe they will feel closer to the church again,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 curious to see how our new American pope affects Catholics in this country.鈥
Many of Prevost鈥檚 former schoolmates have renewed hope that their former church in Dolton, located on the southern edge of Chicago, will now be resurrected as a shrine to the new pope.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really in disrepair, but if anything could bring it back, this would be it,鈥 Nies said. 鈥淚 remember attending Mass there as a girl. Robert鈥檚 family always sat behind us at 9:15 a.m. Mass.鈥
Back then, as a young altar boy, Pope Leo XIV went by the name Robert, not Bob or Bobby, Nies said.
鈥淚 remember him always sort of walking a straight line, with his faith and in his life,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 remarkable that the line eventually led to the Vatican.鈥
Photos: Chicago celebrates election of Pope Leo XIV
鈥淟ong live the Pope! Long live the Pope!鈥 chanted sixth graders from Everest Academy, a Catholic school in Lemont, Ill., in front of Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, following the election of Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native and the first American Pope in history on Thursday.
People peer inside of Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, while waiting to come inside to pray following the election of the new Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
Members of the Archdiocese of Chicago give a press conference following the election of the new Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
Julia Caspar, left, and Catherine Freidenfeld, right, of Hillsdale College, pray following the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
People gather to celebrate the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
People chat outside Holy Name Cathedral while waiting to go inside and pray following the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
People enter Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, to pray following the election of the new Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
A person takes a picture of the front of Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago, following the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
People wait outside the doors of Holy Name Cathedral to celebrate the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
People pray following the election of the new Pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill.
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