Chicago Mayor Johnson hopes to enlist pope in reparations fight after he apologized for 'scourge of slavery'
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reportedly said on Wednesday he planned to enlist the pope in his fight for reparations in the Windy City.
Pope Leo XIV met with Johnson as the mayor led a Chicago delegation that included George Floyd family lawyer Antonio Romanucci on a Thursday trip to the Vatican.
Johnson gifted Pope Leo with an array of apparel from Chicago, including a Chicago Cubs hat.
As Johnson launches an effort called Repair Chicago to "gather lived experiences of harm of Black Chicagoans" to provide reparations for Black residents, he will try to capitalize on his visit with Pope Leo XIV to garner support for the cause. In 2024, Johnson signed an executive order establishing a reparations task force of 40 members that addresses "historical harms committed against Black Chicagoans and their ancestors through the form of reparations."
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Before boarding a flight to Rome for his visit with the pope, Johnson was asked whether he intends to ask Leo to use his pulpit to support reparations for local descendants of African American slaves."
"That’s an important conversation… Absolutely… Yes. I want to be very clear about that," Johnson said.
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Johnson’s remarks came after Pope Leo apologized for the Vatican's historical role in legitimizing the "scourge of slavery" in his first papal encyclical.
Leo called the Vatican’s record a "wound in Christian memory."
Johnson said he would thank the pope for recognizing "the harm that slavery caused across the globe" and in Chicago.
"Noting that America is just over a month away from celebrating its 250th birthday, Johnson said, ‘This nation is not what it is without the free labor and the forced labor of Black people,’" the Sun-Times reported.
The outlet reported further, "Johnson said the pope’s apology and long-awaited recognition of the social and economic wounds that still linger from slavery is ‘very much aligned with’ his own ongoing effort to "repair the harm that has been caused by slavery."
"[This] encounter that I’m going to have with the highest-profile religious leader on the planet is also moving our agenda forward," Johnson said. "That conversation is not separate and apart from the work that’s happening in Springfield or City Council or anywhere else."
Johnson’s office announced the Repair Chicago effort would involve "bus tours, panel discussions, town halls and hearings," helping the task force members gather input for the administration’s reparations study.
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The move comes two years after Johnson named his chief equity officer, Carla Kupe, to lead the reparations task force with $500,000 in funding.
Chicago could follow several states and local municipalities looking to implement reparations to some degree. On the state level, Illinois’ reparations commission released a report laying out what it called the state's history of harms against Black residents.
Not too far from Chicago, Evanston was the first to pay Black residents in reparations to cover housing expenses. The program issues $25,000 direct cash payments to Black residents and descendants of Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969.
Johnson's office did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.