PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria’s mayor is reflecting on a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity and trip last week.
Rita Ali was part of a diplomacy mission coordinated by the Illinois Municipal League, which sent mayors and community leaders to Rome, Italy from March 28th to April 2nd. Ali is the 2nd Vice President of the IML.
As part of the trip, the group had an audience with Pope Leo XIV, an Illinois native himself.
“It was very special to him that we were from Illinois, and he personalized his speech to Illinois mayors,” Ali said.
Ali says the trip had been in the works for a few years, before Leo became the leader of the Catholic Church.
Ali says one of the purposes of the trip was to relay the work being done in the state of Illinois, as well as representing Peoria on a world stage. Ali was accompanied by Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, with both presenting gifts to Leo. The gift from Ali
The group had a private meeting with Leo, where Ali says it was personalized for the group and was “enlightening.” She says the message was based in asking authority to be understood as service to the community.
“He really stressed the importance of making a priority to serve the poor, to serve the immigrants, and to serve, what he called, the least of them,” Ali said.
There were also discussions with Leo about Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the central Illinois native who rose to prominence through TV and radio programs. A beatification of Sheen will take place later this year in St. Louis, which is the first step in the process of sainthood.
Ali says Leo will not be able to make it to the beatification service in September, but is planning to send a Cardinal. But she notes that Leo said “it was time” for the process to move forward.
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