Lori Curtis said she would bring up the subject of the March 10 tornado.

That disaster and the hardship it brought to Kankakee County would be an obvious point of conversation, she thought.

Her husband, Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis, agreed. He agreed largely because he could not come up with an idea.

After all, when you are set to have the opportunity to have a discussion with the leader of the global Catholic Church – who shepherds of flock of some 1.4 billion people, of which 85 million are in the United States – pressure tends to build quickly.

Curtis, 57, and his wife were part of an Illinois Municipal League delegation that traveled to Rome and Vatican City during Holy Week (March 30-April 2, the week prior to Easter) to tour the area and, specifically, spend some moments with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost, who grew up in south suburban Dolton and was then created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023.

Then-Cardinal Prevost had deep ties within the Archdiocese of Chicago as well as the Augustinians’ Midwestern province based in Chicago before being appointed as a bishop in Peru.

The Augustinian Order had long ties to Bishop McNamara Catholic High School.

During their private audience with the pope at his residence with members of the Illinois delegation, of which Curtis was one of 22 mayors selected to go, each mayor and their companion were afforded an opportunity to speak in a somewhat private manner.

After some opening remarks to those gathered as well as a reading from scripture and a blessing to the group, he offered a chance for a short conversation.

After the Curtises waited for their opportunity, they introduced themselves to Pope Leo, a meeting this Lutheran couple certainly never envisioned.

Curtis began by offering greetings from the city of Kankakee and they shook hands.

The pontiff responded:

“So then you are very familiar with Bishop McNamara,” the pope offered.

The conversation could not have started on a better subject. Not only is Curtis a 1987 graduate of the Kankakee-based Catholic school, but his wife also graduated from the school in 1991.

Their two sons, Connor, class of 2020, and Zachary, class of 2022, also possess Mac diplomas.

Pope Leo noted he had visited the school and was familiar with it.

“He started with Bishop Mac. He led with that,” Curtis said.

The approximately 90-second conversation then switched gears. They talked of the March 10 tornado and hailstorm and the extensive damages it caused within Kankakee and Aroma Township.

“He said he was aware,” Lori, 53, noted. “He said he follows what happens here.”

Lori asked if he would pray for Kankakee. Pope Leo informed her he would.

The pope explained to his Kankakee visitors that he stays abreast of Chicagoland news as his brother, John Prevost, of New Lenox, is not far from Kankakee.

The first pope from the United States could not have been more impressive to his visitors from the nation’s Midwest if he had tried.

It was an encounter that neither the mayor nor his wife will likely ever forget.

Curtis gets invite

When the municipal league informed Curtis, who serves on the IML’s Executive Board, of the opportunity to travel to the Vatican, he said he was interested. He first needed to talk to Lori.

Lori, an occupational therapy assistant with the Bourbonnais Elementary School District since 2007, could not contain her excitement.

She was ready to cross the Atlantic Ocean the moment her husband asked if she had interest in the trip.

The opportunity to be able to have a private conversation with the pope, however brief it may be, was simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Lori explained.

“He is the most popular, the most famous person in the world,” Lori reasoned. “... I didn’t want us to pass that up.”

The trip was sponsored and coordinated by the IML. Curtis stressed no taxpayer money was used for any part of the trip. The trip was paid in full by the mayor and Lori.

“This is something that may never happen again,” Curtis said of the opportunity. “We are not Catholic, but we know what the pope means to religion and the world.

“The opportunity to meet the American pope – one of the most down to earth people – was an opportunity we could not miss."

‘Surreal’ experience

Both Curtis and Lori said the trip was filled with events and travel. It wasn’t until they returned home and began to unwind in their Riverview neighborhood home that they began to reflect on this unique experience.

Curtis simply described the trip and their exchange with Pope Leo XIV as “surreal.”

The Illinois travelers actually landed on the Sunday of Palm Sunday. They attended a private Palm Sunday mass in the historic Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, one of Rome’s four ancient major papal basilicas.

The Saint Paul’s church is located in Italy but is under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. This church is built over the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle. The tomb of St. Paul is believed to be beneath the main altar of the church.

Curtis said instead of receiving palm leaves as is customary in the United States on Palm Sunday, churchgoers at Saint Paul’s received a segment of an olive branch from the pope’s garden.

The following day included a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, located in Vatican City, which is known as the world’s largest church and constructed over the tomb of St. Peter.

A trip into the Vatican Grottoes followed. The grottoes are located directly beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, and this sacred space holds the tombs of more than 90 popes, including Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Curtis described these locations as awe-inspiring. “It was almost as cool as meeting the pope,” he recounted.

The Monday experience, however, was highlighted by the private audience with the IML’s gathering in the pope’s private residence and conversation with him.

The delegation, Curtis said, was made up of many mayors of different faith.

Would the Kankakee mayoral couple do it again? There was no hesitation. The answer was absolutely yes.

As he has thought through the trip since their return, Curtis explained it this way:

“I was more honored than star-struck,” he said.

Who could be next?

Curtis noted being mayor brings about many highs and many lows. But this encounter made up for many days of city frustrations.

“This offset the lowest of the lows.”

During his mayoral tenure, which began in May 2021, Curtis can now lay claim to having met the most recognizable world religious leader as well as the then-leader of the free world, President Joe Biden. Curtis met Biden upon his May 2022 trip to a Kankakee farm.

Asked what famous figure he would like to meet next, Curtis thought for a moment or two.

“Jack Nicklaus,” he said, referring to the legendary golfer.

Maybe one day on the first tee at the Kankakee Country Club. Maybe. Just maybe.

Lori simply smiled.

Who would have ever envisioned having a conversation with the pope, after all?