These St. Rita students picked Cardinal Robert Prevost for new pope just because he's from Chicago
Never discount a little bit of hometown advantage.
Seniors at St. Rita High School on Chicago's Southwest Side were given a pretty straightforward assignment this week: choose a potential pope and give a presentation.
Then came the curveball from the papal conclave.
The students were blunt: None of them expected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born cardinal who had served for decades in both Peru and the United States, to be elected pope.
But Oscar Salgado and Ciro Prio picked him first.
"It was just that he was from Chicago, and I thought it was pretty cool, so I mean, that was really it, honestly, because I didn't really know much of the cardinals," Pro said.
Now they're the class experts on Pope Leo XIV.
"He was definitely the Cinderella pick. Kind of a dark horse candidate, and I think that's how the whole world felt," said teacher Tom Conlon. But now it's a celebration. "He's from Chicago. He's an Augustinian, affiliated with St. Rita, used to substitute teach here."
For Nino Protti and James Kevin, the connection stretches all the way to Peru. They did mission work there.
And a day after the celebration came the class presentation on a pope that the St. Rita's family feels blessed to know.
