Pope Leo’s Chicago Circle: The Friends Who Shaped a Pope

Hours after his election, Pope Leo XIV texted three Chicago friends: “Come in.” What followed says everything about the man beneath the white cassock.

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Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be sharing a series of deeply reported essays that, together, offer the most complete portrait yet of Pope Leo — not just his own life and formation, but also the circle of people he trusts most as he begins his pontificate.

Why? Because if Leo XIV is to be the world’s most credible moral leader in this defining moment for America and the globe, then we need to know the men and women he relies on to carry out his vision.

Today’s essay turns to Pope Leo’s closest group of friends from Chicago — Rich, Lisa, and Denise. As you’ll read below, three hours after his election, Pope Leo did something unfathomably gracious to preserve and strengthen their relationship.

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They say we are the sum of our closest friends — whether that number is five or twelve — and Pope Leo XIV is living proof.

Long before he was Leo XIV, he was simply “Father Bob” to a tight-knit circle from Chicagoland.

These lifelong friends have profoundly shaped his journey as a priest, bishop, and now pope. And even as he dons the white cassock, he remains very much the humble Chicago pastor his friends have always known.

As a priest, young Father Bob forged deep friendships at St. Jude’s parish in New Lenox.

There he met Rich and Lisa Solava and Denise Utter, who first knew him over 20 years ago when he’d visit their pastor (an old classmate of his) and stay to chat with parishioners.

The Solavas became like family — joining the Augustinian lay community alongside him — and they saw his servant’s heart up close.

He’d pick them up from the airport on Rome trips and even give personal tours of the Sistine Chapel, never too important to be a friend.

Three hours after he was elected Pope Leo XIV, Lisa emailed him from her home in southwest suburban New Lenox, where she and her husband, Rich, were panic packing for a flight to Rome the next morning.

“We’re arriving Friday, but I guess we can’t have you out for pizza, huh?” she wrote.

The new pope, her friend of more than 20 years, whom she still thinks of as “Father Bob,” quickly responded: “No, but maybe you could come into the Vatican for a pizza night.”