When Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicagoan, ascended to the position of pope earlier this year, Aurelio’s Pizza, headquartered in Homewood, Illinois, boldly proclaimed itself the pontiff’s favorite pizzeria. On Wednesday, July 30, Pope Leo XIV backed up the Chicago-style brand’s claim when he accepted a special delivery straight to the popemobile in Rome.
Talk about a PR godsend. And Aurelio’s has a group of dedicated Pope Leo admirers to thank for it.
As PMQ Pizza previously reported, Pope Leo XIV most recently showed up at Aurelio’s store in Homewood in August 2024, ordering a thin-crust pepperoni pie. He was still a cardinal at the time, of course, but Joe Aurelio, Aurelio’s president and CEO, has said the world leader is a longtime customer.
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That Summer 2024 visit has since been enshrined in Aurelio’s lore. In May, Aurelio’s gave the thin-crust pie a new name—the Pope-erroni—and designated the table at which he sat the official Pope’s Table, complete with a priest’s chair from the altar of a local Catholic church.
But the papal delivery has generated more publicity of biblical proportions, although it started as a project dreamed up by fans of the pope himself, not Aurelio’s Pizza.
According to WGN, a group of Catholic friends in the U.S. decided to get an Aurelio’s pizza box directly into Pope Leo’s hands, with Madeline Daley, a 22-year-old from Cincinnati, assigned to make the delivery personally.
To kick it off, Ohio resident Jayden Remias and Jake Ochave, a Virginian, flew to Chicago and picked up a frozen pie from Aurelio’s. Ochave took the pizza to Daley, who was already planning a trip to Rome for a glimpse of the new pope. Daley packed the pizza with dry ice and flew off to Italy.
As the popemobile made its way through St. Peter’s Square last Wednesday, Daley was there, waving the pizza box—along with a sign that read, “We Have Aurelio’s Pizza”—to get Pope Leo’s attention.
The pope apparently spotted Daley’s sign and started craving pizza on the spot. Daley passed the pizza box to a member of Pope Leo’s security team, who handed it over to the pope himself.
Daley told NBC News, “When Pope Leo came around, he kept grabbing babies to bless them. But as soon as he saw the pizza, he had babies in his hands, but he’s still saying, like, ‘Get me that pizza, I want that pizza!’ And seeing the logo made him light up, and his smile was from ear to ear, and he was extremely excited about it.”
In a video and photos posted on Instagram, the pope can, in fact, be seen smiling warmly and giving a thumbs-up sign, then gazing fondly at the pizza box. He also clasped his hands together in a thankful gesture. The photos appear on the Instagram account of @maeganmartin_, an American woman who was apparently a witness to the event.
The pope’s brother reportedly said Leo ate the entire pizza later that day.
“Pope Leo has been a lifetime Aurelio’s fan and going to Aurelio’s Pizza in Homewood, Illinois, since the 1960s,” Aurelio told NBC News. “So it’s been part of his life, and for him to recognize [the pizza] and actually stop there in the audience was amazing.”
Judging from an August 6 post on Aurelio’s Instagram page, the company’s leadership was not directly involved in the scheme to get their pizza to the popemobile. “If anyone knows the people who made the sign and gave him the Aurelio’s pizza box, please message us so we can personally thank them,” that post reads.
Nevertheless, Aurelio’s has promoted its papal connection for several months now, starting with the renaming of the pepperoni pie as the “Pope-erroni” and the dedication of the Pope’s Table back in May. That effort almost certainly caught the Catholic group’s attention and sparked the project that has generated headlines for Aurelio’s Pizza around the world.
In fact, last week Joe Aurelio shot a video touting a recent visit by Domenico Sorrentino, the Bishop of Assisi, who “blessed the restaurant, the staff and, of course, the old oven.” After all, you never know who the next pope will be.
