'Seize this moment': Pope Leo XIV's hometown approves purchase of house where he grew up
DOLTON, IL – The tiny hamlet where Pope Leo XIV was raised landed a miracle on July 1 after a village board approved the purchase of the house where he grew up, a move they hope will spark a revival for the blighted small town.
The Dolton Village Board approved the purchase at a special meeting on July 1, marking a coup for the small town that's experienced rough decades amid a loss of manufacturing jobs and a previous corrupt mayor. Many thought Dolton didn't have the money or political will to land the little ranch house where Leo played priest as a young Robert Francis Prevost.
"We can either seize this moment and move forward or let it go to an investor," said Dolton Mayor Jason House, addressing the crowd at the public meeting. "You cannot cut your way out of a deficit — you have to make sure you have economic opportunities."
Childhood homes of Leo's predecessors have also become museums and pilgrimage sites, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. It's expected that Leo's house will also become a museum or shrine, USA TODAY previously reported.
People from around the country have already begun treating it as a pilgrimage site. Some began arriving within hours of the announcement that Leo had become pope on May 8.
Attorney on the deal: 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity'
Dolton's approval of the purchase also comes as a surprise — the house was in the process of being sold at an auction that was supposed to close July 17, according to the listing.
Village attorney Burt Odelson, who orchestrated the deal, told USA TODAY that the homeowner agreed to sell outside of the auction.
Auctioneer Paramount Realty, a New York-based firm known for selling the childhood home of President Donald Trump for over $2 million, did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's requests for comment. Homeowner Paweł Radzik did not immediately respond either.
Odelson declined to share the final price but said it was "significantly lower than what they thought they would get." He said he had secured financing for the purchase and that the paperwork would be completed in about a week.
The prominent Chicago attorney said the owner agreed to sell in response to threats that Dolton would take the house via eminent domain.
Odelson described the coup as a capstone in his decades-long career.
"Even for me, who's done a lot and seen a lot, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said the South Side Chicago native. "I've dealt with presidents, senators, mayors, but there's always another one. Not for this— he's the only American pope."
The Pope Leo effect: Many US Catholics don't fully practice their faith. Could Leo's papacy change that?
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'The message of his music always touched a deep nerve in Europe and especially Germany, but ever since Trump was elected president, Springsteen's voice has been incredibly important for us,' said Katrin Schlemmer, a 56-year-old IT analyst from Zwickau who saw five Springsteen concerts in June — from Berlin to Prague to Frankfurt and two in San Sebastián, Spain. All told, Schlemmer has seen 60 Springsteen concerts in 11 countries around the world since her first in East Berlin in 1988 — a record-breaking, history-changing concert with more than 300,000 spectators that some historians believe may have contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall just 16 months later. 'A lot of Germans can't fathom why the Americans elected someone like Trump,' said Schlemmer, who had the chance to thank Springsteen for the 1988 East Berlin concert at a chance meeting after a 2014 concert in Cape Town, South Africa. 'We saw for ourselves how quickly a democracy was destroyed by an authoritarian. The alarm bells are ringing about what a danger Trump is. People love [Springsteen] here because he tells it like it is and because he is standing up to Trump.' Stephan Cyrus, a 56-year-old manager from Hamburg, said Germans view Springsteen as a trustworthy American voice during a period of uncertainty. 'When Germans hear Springsteen speaking about his worries about the United States, they listen, because so many of us have so much admiration and longing for the United States and are worried about the country's direction too,' said Cyrus, who saw the June 11 concert in Berlin. 'He definitely touched us with his words.' In one of his concert speeches, Springsteen goes after Trump without mentioning his name. 'There is some very weird, strange and dangerous s— going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.' Springsteen then adds: 'In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they are inflicting on loyal American workers. They're rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They're defunding American universities that won't back down to their ideological demands. They're removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now. A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.' He tells the audiences that those in the administration 'have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.' But Springsteen ends on a hopeful note, promising his audiences: 'We'll survive this moment.'
