Chicago residents celebrate 'Da Pope' as Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, begins papal duties

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago and raised in the south suburb of Dolton, where his old house has become a point of pilgrimage.

DOLTON, Ill. — The newest Roman Catholic shrine in America has three bedrooms, two baths, a finished basement and used to be the home of newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

A day after the Vatican shocked the world by electing Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born cardinal who spent most of his career in Peru, to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, pilgrims have started trickling to the brick bungalow on East 141st Place in suburban Dolton to see where he grew up.

The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Ill., on Friday morning.Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP - Getty ImagesRobert and Susan Castagna traveled from Indiana to see the new pontiff's childhood home in Dolton, Ill., a place "close to the person who is so close to Jesus." Nicole Acevedo / NBC NewsBob and Susan Castagna drove over from St. John, Indiana, to see the pope's old home.

“I grew up in a house like this,” Bob Castagna, 77, a lawyer who has worked for the church and is originally from New York, said as he looked at the bungalow. “This fills my heart with joy.”

“It's a magnet,” said Susan Castagna, 76, who said she grew up in Oregon. “We just want to come someplace that is close to the person who is so close to Jesus, so close to God.”