'DA POPE!' Leo XIV's Chicago roots unleash spate of holy humor

A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself.

In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago's pizza and more loaded than its hot dog, seemingly irresistible to comics and commoners alike.

Stained-glass windows depicting a dunking Michael Jordan? A change in canon law to make ketchup-topped frankfurters a sin? Cameos in “The Bear”? All of it apparently as tempting as the forbidden fruit.

“You just saw a billion jokes,” says Chad Nackers, who was raised Catholic and now presides as editor-in-chief of The Onion, the satirical site that heralded Robert Prevost's elevation with an image of the smiling pontiff encased in a poppyseed-dotted bun.

“Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope,” read the headline.

The pageantry of the church and the idea of a man who acts as a voice for God, Nackers says, combine for fertile humorous ground no matter the pontiff. Having him hail from the U.S., though, and a city as distinct as Chicago, opens up a whole new world of funny.

“It's just kind of ripe for humor,” Nackers says.

“DA POPE!” blared the front of the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, one of countless spins on the city’s unique accent, immortalized in “Saturday Night Live” sketches. No matter how Pope Leo XIV actually appears, in this realm of humor, he's a mustachioed everyman who swaps his Ts for Ds and his zucchetto for a Bears cap.

With the Second City in the spotlight, more Chicago tropes were trotted out than even the famed namesake improv troupe could dream up. The popemobile traded for the Dodge Monaco made famous in “The Blues Brothers”? Check. Twists on city-set shows and movies like “Chicago Hope,” er, “Chicago Pope”? Yup. Dreams of Portillo’s Italian beef sandwiches and the Chicago liqueur Malört taking the place of the bread and wine of communion? Yes, chef. Over and over again.

In sports-loving Chicago, city teams were spun in a swell of papal humor. Initial belief that the pope’s baseball loyalties were with the Cubs led content creator Caitlin Hendricks to muse that Leo ironically hates the Cardinals. As it turns out, though, it appears the man in white roots for the White Sox.

It didn’t stop those in Wrigleyville from eating up pope memes and feeling hometown pride. At the Sports World shop, one woman came in asking for a Cubs jersey with Pope Leo XIV’s name splayed across the back. Down the street at Wrigleyville Sports, Chad Grant said he wouldn’t hate Leo for rooting for the Sox, but that “I just feel bad, because he’s been used to losing for a little while.”

Late-night hosts, too, had a ball with an American’s ascension.

Jimmy Fallon mused of “deep-dish communion wafers” from a pope known as “Bobby Bratwurst.” Stephen Colbert, a devout Catholic who performs in a studio with nearly as much stained glass to rival St. Patrick’s Cathedral, offered patriotic “Pope-S-A” chants and mentions of “da prayers” in thick Chicago tongue.

“I’m actually surprised by how excited I am,” Jimmy Kimmel said in his first monologue after the news. “An American who grew up here, watched all the shows we watched, rooted for teams, is now in Rome at the head of the church … this must have been what it felt like when they opened the first Olive Garden.”

More will come, a cascade of Ferris Bueller jokes and asides on canonizing Mike Ditka. There will be Oprah exuberantly shouting “You get a new pope! And you get a new pope!” And more memes of the pope in a dyed-green Chicago River or atop its shiny “Cloud Gate” bean than anyone can count.

“There's just a lot of joy in the city right now,” says Ashley Lenz, a theologian in Chicago who works for the Catholic prayer app Hallow. “There’s a certain delight of seeing something sacred break into the ordinary. The idea of a pope who’s stood in line at Portillo’s or cheered on the Sox makes it all feel closer to home. It makes the papacy feel human again.”

Associated Press writer Melina Walling contributed to this report from Chicago.

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky.

Chicago White Sox players walk on the field as the scoreboard honors Pope Leo XIV before a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Friday, May 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)

A Chicago Sun-Times newspaper front page shows "DA POPE!" at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Ill., Thursday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

David Hughes of Chicago watches a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning Friday, May 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)

Chicago Sun Times newspaper front page showing Pope Leo XIV is seen on a newspaper rack at a store, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melina Walling)

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The Wiener's Circle, an iconic hot dog stand known for posting quirky phrases on its sign, posted on Instagram that its current sign translates to "He has eaten our dogs," Friday, May 9, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, left, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican shortly after his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

The Wiener's Circle, an iconic hot dog stand known for posting quirky phrases on its sign, posted on Instagram that its current sign translates to "He has eaten our dogs," Friday, May 9, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)