For students and staff at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy, 720 W. Belmont Ave., the first anniversary of Pope Leo’s election to the papacy offered a moment to reflect.
The school went viral for the mock conclave it held just two days before the pope’s election in 2025, during which they elected their own native Chicagoan who took the name “Augustine.”
The event was covered by Chicago Catholic and local news media, and shared by media outlets around the world.
Cardinal Cupich, who took part in the real conclave, visited the school and the students who took part in the mock conclave less than a month after Pope Leo’s election. The students also appeared on stage with Cardinal Cupich during the Archdiocese of Chicago’s celebration of Pope Leo on June 14 at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.
But the excitement did not end there for the students. Dressed in their conclave costumes, the students met Pope Leo personally following a papal audience in Vatican City on Oct. 8.
To commemorate the election anniversary, the school held a food drive and Mass on May 6.
The mock conclave thrust the school into the spotlight and made them accidental representatives for Catholic schools around the country, said Allison Foerster, a teacher at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy who helped orchestrate a mock conclave.
“The special connection we had with Pope Leo was so impactful for our students and for us as teachers that when we came back this year we thought, ‘How can we facilitate more fruit from this experience for our students?’” Foerster said.
They created the student organization Team XIV in which students gather once a month an hour before school starts to pray with Pope Leo through his monthly intention for the world. Afterward, Team XIV does a service project related to that intention.
About 40 students attend each gathering.
“We want them to understand that there are things children can do now, that age is not a limiting factor for serving the kingdom of God,” she said. “That is a really important message we want our students to take away from the school experience, and from this experience that was just a watershed moment in our school.”
For May, Pope Leo’s intention was “that everyone might have food.”
Team XIV organized a parish, school and community food drive with the goal of filling a small box truck with food to be donated to the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels in West Humboldt Park, which operates a weekly food pantry.
“It’s been encouraging to see how willing and ready they are to be here early to serve their community and be the hands and feet of Christ in that way,” Foerster said.
Older students packed the food into boxes in the school gym on May 5. The following day, the student body carried the boxes next door to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church for Mass.
Students kept the boxes in the pews with them during Mass; afterward they formed an assembly line to pass the boxes to students and adults packing the truck.
The mock conclave experience has left a mark on the whole community, but especially the students who participated, who will carry the memory with them as they become adults.
Eighth grader Vincent Wall is the school’s student-director of Catholic identity and helped to plan the mock conclave.
“It really opened my eyes to how God works in mysterious ways. I didn’t expect we would become so popular,” said Wall, who traveled with his classmates to Rome to meet Pope Leo. “It feels like I have a very deep connection with [Pope Leo] now, as the whole school does.”
Fifth grader Max Schnakenberg was one of the cardinals.
“It’s the pope’s anniversary and since the pope is there to help people who need it and to spread the word of God, we want to spread the word of God by giving food to people who are not as fortunate as us,” he said. “Not every kid gets to experience that. I feel blessed to be able to meet the pope.”
Eighth grader Shannon Mulcahy was also one of the cardinals in the mock conclave.
“It’s actually been so surreal,” she said. “It feels like such a blessing to have this school that I’ve been at for 12 years now to get all this attention it deserves because all of the people at this school.”