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Pope Leo gets gift of Chicago beer from Illinois governor Pritzker
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 19, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 19, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Pope Leo received a four-pack of Chicago beer from Illinois Governor Pritzker during a Vatican visit. The beer, named 'Da Pope', is a nod to a famous SNL sketch.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Catholics believe in holy water. How about holy beer?
Pope Leo received a special gift on Wednesday from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a four-pack of American mild ale from a Chicago brewery.
Pritzker, visiting Leo at the Vatican, handed the beers over to the pope as part of a gift exchange. He 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.
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.
The Vatican did not offer immediate comment about whether Leo, from Chicago's south side, planned to sample the beverage.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee, editing by Ed Osmond)
Holy beer is a playful term referring to beer that is considered special or significant, often in a humorous context. In the article, it refers to the gift of beer given to Pope Leo by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
A gift exchange is a social or cultural practice where individuals give and receive gifts. In the article, it describes the act of Governor Pritzker presenting beer to Pope Leo as part of a friendly exchange.
A brewery is a facility where beer is produced commercially. The article mentions Burning Bush Brewery, which created the special beer given to the Pope.
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