Pope Leo given special gift by US lawmaker with a very fitting name on the label

Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff from the United States

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker brought a very special gift when he visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday.

Pritzker handed the pontiff a four-pack of American mild ale from a Chicago brewery.

The beer, a new release from Burning Bush Brewery on Chicago's north side, is named "Da Pope", a play on a famous sketch on the Saturday Night Live television show about the Chicago Bears American football team.

Pritzker suggested Leo, originally from Chicago and the first U.S. pope, might enjoy a local brew.

"We'll put that in the fridge," Leo responded, taking the beers and putting them on a table.

Pritzker, a Democrat, has served as Illinois governor since 2019. He did not immediately say why he was in Rome, but travelling foreign officials often meet the pope while in the city.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, his wife Mary Kathryn Muenster, meet Pope Leo XI at the Vatican (via REUTERS)

The Vatican did not offer immediate comment about whether Leo, from Chicago's south side, planned to sample the beverage.

Leo, born Cardinal Robert Prevost, made history in May when white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel, signifying his election as Pope Francis’s successor and the first pontiff from the United States.

The late Pope Francis brought the 69-year-old to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. Originally from Chicago, Pope Leo has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru. He has given few media interviews and rarely speaks in public.

The conclave for the late Pope Francis lasted two days.

Once a cardinal achieves the required 89 votes, he is asked if he accepts the role, and once he says yes, he must choose a papal name.

Then, he is taken to a small chamber off the Sistine Chapel called the “Room of Tears”, named for the emotional weight of the responsibility ahead, where he puts on the white papal vestments.