{"id":28487,"date":"2025-08-05T15:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=28487"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:30:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:30:05","slug":"one-pizza-has-wild-adventure-from-chicago-to-the-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/08\/one-pizza-has-wild-adventure-from-chicago-to-the-pope","title":{"rendered":"One Pizza Has Wild Adventure From Chicago to the Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a story that seems ripped from a Bill and Ted\u2019s <\/em>plotline, one Chicago pizza made an epic journey all the way to the Vatican. The adventure stems from the mind of Catholic content creator Jayden Remias, in Columbus, who had heard that Aurelio\u2019s Pizza, a Chicago staple, is the favorite pizza of the first-ever American Pope. The pizza chain even launched a \u201cPoperoni Pizza\u201d and dedicated a table to the Chicago native Pope after his election.<\/p>\n

For Remais, the Pope\u2019s affinity for Chicago pizza offered an opportunity for some wholesome content. \u201cI know what the world wants. It wants truth, beauty and goodness. And so how can I give that to the world? And I started brainstorming ideas \u2013 what’s something impossible that would require God to intervene and help me get there? Delivering a pizza to the pope,\u201d he told Fox News Digital<\/em><\/a>. The idea required Remais and a friend to drive first from Columbus to Chicago for the pizza, where he experienced a dead battery along the way. Once he finally made it to Aurelio\u2019s, however, Remais wasn\u2019t able to hop on a plane to take it to the Vatican like he\u2019d originally planned. So, he called in help- Cincinnati native Madeline Daley, who is working as the interim social media coordinator for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Daley had plans to fly to Rome to attend the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and\u00a0Catholic Influencers.<\/p>\n

Flying the pizza to Rome was no easy task either as Daley had to keep the pizza frozen during the long flight and make sure it could get through customs. Even worse, the pizza wound up in the trash. \u201cThe pizza was thrown out by a maid at one of the apartments and in a trash can far away from our apartment, double wrapped in plastic, so still completely safe, but thrown out,\u201d Daley told Fox News<\/em>. Daley\u2019s mom begged the landlord for help in retrieving the pizza, which he personally dug from the trash.<\/p>\n

Daley and the pizza made their way to Rome at last, with Daley arriving early to St. Peter\u2019s Square so the Pope could see her while he made his rounds in the Popemobile. A video<\/a> of the encounter shows Daley with two signs, one announcing \u201cWe have Aurelio\u2019s pizza\u201d and another \u201cPope Leo, I brought you ? from Chicago.\u201d The Pope had the car stop when he noticed the sign. \u201cWhen Pope Leo came around, he kept grabbing babies to bless them, but as soon as he saw the pizza, he had babies in his hand, but he\u2019s still saying, like, \u2018Get me that pizza, I want that pizza,\u2019\u201d Daley told NBC News Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aurelio\u2019s shared the video on its Instagram<\/a>. \u201cAnother blessing to have Pope Leo acknowledge our pizza at St. Peter’s Square earlier today,\u201d the pizza chain wrote. \u201cWe’d love to have him in again next time he is back home, and 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.\u201d Joe Aurelio, owner of Aurelio\u2019s, said the encounter was \u201cgreat to see.\u201d \u201cThe Pope is one of us,\u201d he said. \u201cPope Leo has been a lifetime Aurelio\u2019s fan and going to Aurelio\u2019s Pizza in Homewood, Illinois, since the 1960s. So, it\u2019s been part of his life, and for him to recognize [the pizza] and actually stop there in the audience was amazing.\u201d According to Pope Leo\u2019s brother, John Prevost, Pope Leo \u201cdevoured\u201d the pizza after receiving it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a story that seems ripped from a Bill and Ted\u2019s plotline, one Chicago pizza made an epic journey all the way to the Vatican. The adventure stems from the mind of Catholic content creator Jayden Remias, in Columbus, who had heard that Aurelio\u2019s Pizza, a Chicago staple, is the favorite pizza of the first-ever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":28490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Pizza Has Wild Adventure From Chicago to the Pope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Chicago pizza made it to the Vatican as a Catholic influencer fulfilled a dream to deliver Pope Leo his favorite slice\u2014Aurelio\u2019s \u201cPoperoni.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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