When white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney announcing Pope Leo XIV as the first American pontiff, a modest brick house in Dolton, Illinois experienced its own miracle: an instant market valuation surge. The three-bedroom home at 212 E. 141st Place—just 30 minutes south of downtown Chicago—has suddenly become the hottest property in the Midwest.
The 750-square-foot residence where Robert Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) spent his formative years had been quietly sitting on the market for months at $199,000. Real estate agent Steve Budzik had fielded only a handful of inquiries until a reporter called with the news.
The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV.
Born on September 14, 1955, Pope Leo grew up in this brick single-family home built in 1949. His parents, Louis (a school administrator who passed away in 1996) and Mildred (a librarian who died in 1990), owned the home from before Leo’s birth until his father sold it in 1996 for $58,000. The future pope lived there full-time until departing for a Michigan seminary for high school in 1969, followed by college at Villanova University in 1973, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1977.
After Villanova, Leo’s housing journey took him back to Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, where he lived in a house across from the Catholic Theological Union while pursuing his Master of Divinity degree in the late 1970s. He later studied Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome from 1982 to 1984 before embarking on missionary work in Peru, where he would spend nearly 20 years.
A person takes a picture of the childhood home of the new Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Illinois.
Property investor Paweł Radzik purchased the new Pope’s childhood home for $66,000 in 2024 and renovated it extensively. He initially listed it for $219,000 in January 2025, later reducing the price to $199,900. Within hours of the papal announcement, real estate agent Steve Budzik received eight to nine offers for the property, many above the asking price. Following the election of Pope Leo, the home was removed from the market. The owner is now weighing several options for the property’s future, including potentially increasing the price, converting it into a museum honoring Pope Leo XIV, or establishing it as a historical landmark.
The 1,200-square-foot home features three bedrooms and was extensively renovated by Radzik, who noted that «95% of it is new-flooring, cabinets, plumbing, electrical, new kitchen.”
Pope Leo XIV visits the papal apartment at the Apostolic Palace, on May 12, 2025 in Vatican City.
As for Pope Leo XIV himself, he appears to be returning to Vatican tradition by planning to move into the papal apartment on the first floor of the Apostolic Palace, which was formally reopened in his presence on May 11, 2025. However, the apartment requires substantial renovations, as it hasn’t been updated since 2005 and shows signs of neglect including water damage and overgrown vegetation on the rooftop terrace.
For now, the new pope has returned to his previous apartment in the Palace of the Holy Office, where he resided while serving at the Dicastery for Bishops.
Julia Cancilla is the engagement editor (and resident witch) at ELLE Decor, where she manages the brand’s social media presence and covers trends, lifestyle, and culture in the design world. Julia built her background at Inked magazine, where she grew their social media audiences by two million, conducted interviews with A-list celebrities, and penned feature articles focusing on pop culture, art and lifestyle. Over her five years of digital media experience, Julia has written about numerous topics, from fashion to astrology.
