Illinois Village to Take Pope’s Boyhood Home Via Eminent Domain?

Would the state just insert itself and assume ownership of a home on the southside village of Dolton because it was the boyhood home of the new Pope? The first American Pope.

Pope Leo XIV boyhood home

Robert Prevost spent his childhood with his family at the small house in Dolton. The family owned the home for decades. The current owner had purchased and fixed it up to sell, and was in that process when the white smoke wafted out of the Sistine Chapel. That’s when everything changed.

Pope Leo XIV spent his early years on the southside of Chicago

A sale listing was taken down as this little unassuming home was now a golden ticket. Certain to be a destination for Catholics from around the country (and world), the owner knows there is a payday and options here.

Archdiocese of Chicago

Read more: Pope Leo XIV Tourism Taking Shape in Illinois

The home is up for private auction currently. However, the village of Dolton has been in talks with the Archdiocese of Chicago to make the residence a historic site. Would that be considered a public/private partnership? The village of Dolton doesn’t have the money to purchase the house (especially now). The Chicago Archdiocese..maybe? The Vatican?..Without a doubt. But why worry about paying for the future tourist attraction that will draw people from around the world when you can just take it.

That brings us to “eminent domain”. Something that government uses to assume ownership of a building or land that the state deems essential. The Village of Dolton (and the villages lawyer) are posturing like they will employ eminent domain to just declare ownership of the house because they can.

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Controversial? Most definitely. Line the lawyers up (Illinois is built for this). Where are the “Separation of church and state” voices? Couldn’t you cut the current, legal owner in on the deal? The state and church stand to make money from this location (among others) for years and years. Should the legal owner get a percentage of profit annually?

Could the Pope weigh in on the matter?

Get the Pope on the phone. If the Pontiff says the legal owner shouldn’t have property stolen, then how could the diocese team with the village to just “take it”? Let’s not go full Illinois – power for power’s sake, and deal fairly and legally with the home’s owner. Now, should the current owner want to donate it to the Chicago Archdiocese, that would solve a lot. Would you?