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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Pandemic preparedness ‘dramatically eroding' under Trump, experts say
Amid controversial dismissals for independent advisers and staff at health agencies, alongside lackluster responses to the bird flu and measles outbreaks, experts fear the US is now in worse shape to respond to a pandemic than before 2020. H5N1, which has received less attention under the Trump administration than from Biden's team, is not the only influenza virus or even the only variant of bird flu with the potential to spark a pandemic. But a subpar response to the ongoing US outbreak signals a larger issue: America is not ready for whatever pathogen will sweep through next. 'We have not even remotely maintained the level of pandemic preparedness – which needed a lot of work, as we saw from the Covid pandemic,' said Angela Rasmussen, an American virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. 'But now, we essentially have no pandemic preparedness.' Related: Bird flu reinfections at US poultry farms highlight need for vaccines, experts say 'I'm concerned on a number of fronts,' said Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. Those concerns include a lack of quality information from officials, weakened virus monitoring systems, and public health reductions at the federal, state and local levels. 'The thing that I am most concerned about is the veracity of information coming out of the health agencies,' Nuzzo said. In the ongoing outbreaks of measles, for example, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services, has downplayed the severity of the disease, spread misinformation about the highly effective vaccine to prevent measles, and pushed unproven treatments. 'The communications on measles gives me deep worries about what would happen in a pandemic,' Nuzzo said. 'If a pandemic were to occur today, the only thing we would have to protect ourselves on day one would be information.' The H5N1 outbreak has been plagued by incomplete information, an issue that began in the Biden administration but has amplified under Trump. In Arizona, 6 million chickens were killed or culled at a Hickman's Family Farms location because of H5N1 in May. That's about 95% of the company's hen population in the state. Hundreds of workers, including inmate laborers, are now being dismissed as Arizona braces for egg shortages. We're not testing – it's not that there are no new cases Angela Rasmussen Yet even as H5N1 outbreaks continue to spread on farms and wreak havoc on the food supply, no new bird flu cases have been reported in people for months. 'I am concerned that we may not be finding new infections in humans,' Nuzzo said – and a lack of testing may be the culprit. 'We're not testing – it's not that there are no new cases,' Rassmussen said. The last bird flu case in a person was listed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 23 February. At that point, at least 830 people in the US had been tested after contact with sick animals. This kind of testing – monitoring the health of people who regularly work with H5N1-infected animals – is how the vast majority of cases (64 out of 70) have been found in this outbreak. But then, several CDC officials overseeing the bird flu response were fired on 1 April. Since then, only about 50 people in the US have been tested after exposure to sick animals – and no positive cases have been announced. It's also been difficult to understand the extent of the outbreak and how the virus spreads among animals. 'We still just don't have a good picture of the scope and scale of this outbreak – we never really have. And until we have that, we're not going to be able to contain it,' Rasmussen said. 'It's extremely bad,' she continued. 'We don't have any information about what's happening right now. The next pandemic could be starting, and we just don't know where that's happening, and we don't have any ability to find out.' We're seeing health departments scrambling. That infrastructure is just dramatically eroding Jennifer Nuzzo Huge reductions in the public health workforce and resources has led to less monitoring of outbreaks, known as disease surveillance. 'Cutting back on that surveillance is leaving us more in the dark,' Nuzzo said. The CDC clawed back $11.4bn in Covid funding in March. This funding was used to monitor, test, vaccinate and otherwise respond to public health issues at the state, local, territorial and tribal level. 'We're seeing health departments scrambling,' Nuzzo said. 'That infrastructure is just dramatically eroding.' International monitoring programs to address outbreaks before they expand across borders have also been cancelled. 'We have taken for granted all of those protections, and I fear that we are poised to see the consequences,' Nuzzo said. Trump's crackdown on immigration also poses a major challenge in detecting cases and treating patients during outbreaks. 'A lot of the people who are most at risk are strongly disincentivized to report any cases, given that many of them are undocumented or are not US citizens,' Rasmussen said. 'Nobody wants to go get tested if they're going to end up in an Ice detention facility.' When cases are not detected, that means patients are not able to access care. Although it's rare for people to become sick with H5N1, for instance – the virus is still primarily an avian, not a human, influenza – this variant of bird flu has a 52% mortality rate globally among people with known infections. Allowing a deadly virus to spread and mutate under the radar has troubling implications for its ability to change into a human influenza without anyone knowing. And if such changes were detected, widening gaps in communication could be the next hurdle for preventing a pandemic, Nuzzo said. 'Communication is our most important public health intervention. People, in order to be able to know how to protect themselves, need to have access to facts, and they need to believe in the messengers. And the communication around the measles outbreaks are deeply eroding our standing with the American people.' Even stockpiled vaccines and other protective measures, like personal protective equipment, take time to distribute, Nuzzo added. 'And flu is a fast-moving disease that could cause a lot of damage in the months it would take to mount a vaccination campaign.' The US government's cancellation of its $766m contract with Moderna to research and develop an H5N1 vaccine also signals a concerning strategy from health officials, Nuzzo and Rasmussen said. Other restrictions on vaccine development, like a new plan to test all vaccines against saline placebos, is 'going to make it extremely difficult to approve any new vaccine' and would 'have a devastating impact on our ability to respond to a potential pandemic', Rasmussen said – especially in a rapidly moving pandemic where speed matters. 'You don't have time for that if this virus causes a human-to–human outbreak,' Rasmussen said. All of these policies mean the US is less prepared for a pandemic than it was in 2020, she said. And it also means there will be preventable suffering now, even before the next big one strikes. 'We are actively making people less safe, less healthy and more dead,' Rasmussen said.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
A Germantown pedestrian was killed in a crosswalk. Her neighbors are taking action.
Germantown residents are calling for more action to ensure pedestrian safety after their neighbor was killed while crossing the street on June 8. Dorothy "Dot" Dobbins, 77, was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and later died after being taken to the hospital. Metro Nashville Police say that country music singer Conner Smith, 24, was the driver. Dobbins was hit in a marked crosswalk while she was crossing a busy stretch of Third Avenue that passes through the neighborhood. A few days later, Dobbins' neighbors spent six hours at the same crosswalk — located between a dog park and Morgan Park — escorting every passing pedestrian and cyclist as they crossed the street, carrying signs that urged motorists to yield. At times, the growing lines of cars waiting to pass in either direction demonstrated just how busy the street can get. Illustrating that was part of the impetus for the event in the first place. Joe Nuzzo, the president of the Historic Germantown Neighborhood Association, told The Tennessean that the neighbors who organized the crosswalk event wanted to do something to make the neighborhood safer — and to not "let Dot's death go in vain." "The whole thing is with everything, until the next news cycle, when the police are gone, will people still yield?" Nuzzo said. "Will people still pay attention?" In the wake of Dobbins' death, there have been at least a few immediate actions taken to make crossing Third Avenue a bit safer. There's new signage in the road to identify the crosswalk, for example. Foliage from the roadside that blocked a driver's view of incoming pedestrians has also been removed. But other strategies may take more time and effort. While Germantown neighbors have shared positive reviews of the speed cushions installed elsewhere in the neighborhood along a half-mile stretch of Fifth Avenue, the push for similar measures along Third Avenue is a bit trickier. That's because it's a collector street, a type of roadway that connects local roads with high-traffic arterial streets. Nashville's community traffic calming program generally targets residential streets with lower traffic volume, rather than collectors that, according to the city, 'may not be applicable' for certain measures. Add that to a steady influx of new residents and businesses, and it's a recipe for more car traffic by the day. 'Unfortunately, we are a victim of our own success,' Nuzzo said. 'Germantown, when I moved here, it was not as busy as it is now. But now, all the construction is done. We have a few more apartment complexes being built, but now the businesses are coming in. We have restaurants opening up all over Germantown, so that's bringing more people into the neighborhood — more Ubers, more cars, more e-bikes. As more people come in, the more we need traffic safety in the neighborhood.' The issue's top of mind for Metro Council Member Jacob Kupin, who represents Germantown in District 19. Kupin came to the crosswalk event on June 11, and he addressed Dobbins' death during a special council meeting the day before. 'This is an area where we've been advocating for additional support,' Kupin told council members on June 10. 'I know (the Nashville Department of Transportation is) working on that, and I know I don't have to tell the folks in this room that we have so many areas in our district and our city that are working well and so many more that need work.' The neighborhood association is aiming to address the challenge at an upcoming community meeting. Nuzzo said it'll be an opportunity for Germantown neighbors to voice their concerns directly to NDOT and Kupin, both of whom will be in attendance. Nuzzo, for his part, already has an idea of what he'll be advocating for. 'Crosswalks could all use a new paint job,' Nuzzo said. 'A traffic light would be wonderful on that corner. These are all things that NDOT needs to take into consideration.' Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@ Get Davidson County news delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Germantown neighbors call for action after pedestrian death
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The U.S. hasn't seen a new confirmed human bird flu case in nearly 4 months — why?
Soaring egg prices and concerns about bird flu spreading from wild birds and cattle to humans were top of mind for many Americans at the beginning of 2025. The topic recently made its way back into headlines when Moderna announced that the Trump administration was canceling a $766 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans. Over the past 15 months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 70 human cases of bird flu across 13 states. The last known cases were reported nearly four months ago, in February, in Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming. California was a hot spot for human bird flu cases, with 38 infections confirmed by January this year. No cases have been reported in the state since. The Associated Press has reported, citing state records, that testing efforts have 'fallen off.' During 2024 at least 50 people were tested per month, compared with three people tested in March, one in April and none in May. 'In recent weeks, the overall number of new animal H5N1 virus infections reported by [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] has declined, reducing the number of people exposed to infected animals, and human cases have declined as well,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. While there's the possibility that the H5N1 virus is waning in the U.S. for the time being, experts are worried that the efforts to monitor bird flu infections is the factor that's actually waning. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, is worried because while these latest cases have been relatively mild, the virus has been 'quite deadly,' historically speaking. 'Of the known human cases that have been identified, about half of them have died, Nuzzo told Yahoo News, 'and that is a truly staggering percentage.' Yahoo News spoke to Nuzzo and Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, in an effort to gain some insight as to why those CDC case numbers haven't budged in humans. 'The short answer is, we don't know,' Nuzzo said. But experts like her have offered some possibilities: 1. Migratory bird patterns have changed: Wild birds are primary spreaders of avian flu. The United States could be experiencing a natural and temporary decline in human cases, which tend to peak in the fall and early winter, possibly because migration patterns have seasonally changed as well, a CDC official noted during a May call with U.S. doctors. 'As we expect to see bird migration patterns rev back up here in the next few months, I suspect we're going to see increased levels of H5N1 in migratory birds,' Hopkins said. 'That's probably going to result in more poultry flocks and more other animals infected. I think that again raises our risk.' 2. It's possible that less of the virus is circulating: Humans can become infected with bird flu through exposure to sick wild birds, poultry, backyard flocks or cattle. Avian flu infections are still being detected in birds and cattle but not as frequently as they were several months ago. 'Since February 2025, there have been fewer affected dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks in the United States, and we believe, fewer workers are being exposed to sick animals,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. 3. Testing at the state and local levels for H5N1 has decreased: Nuzzo suggested that perhaps there has been an overall reduction in human testing for H5N1, rather than a decrease in viral spread. 'One of the concerns that I have is that states have appeared to be conducting just less general testing for H5N1,' Nuzzo said. 'Those things coupled with a general lack of any communication from federal agencies about H5N1 leaves us very concerned that what we might be seeing is just a contraction of surveillance and not necessarily an abatement of the virus.' A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News that the agency's 'guidance and surveillance efforts for human cases of H5N1 virus infections have not changed. State and local health departments continue to monitor for illness in persons exposed to sick animals. However, no new human cases of H5N1 virus infections have been identified and reported to CDC in recent months.' 4. Less prevalence in wastewater surveillance: People who contract bird flu can shed pieces of the virus through wastewater, like from handwashing, bathing or laundering clothes. But as the CDC website notes, 'Wastewater data cannot determine the source of influenza A viruses.' Nuzzo agrees that wastewater surveillance alone isn't the best method in determining whether human bird flu infections are waning but 'probably the best thing we have in terms of figuring out how much virologic activity is occurring.' Hopkins says the presence of H5N1 showing up in wastewater surveillance has slowed. 'So less virus means less transmission,' Hopkins said. 'They are positive factors for right now, and they don't mean that we won't have greater problems going forward,' he cautioned. For the week ending May 24, out of 340 sites nationwide as part of the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, there were 17 sites, in New Jersey and Oregon, that reported any detection of H5N1, according to the CDC. 5. The current virus strain isn't good at infecting humans: The CDC has confirmed instances of bird flu that have passed from birds to animals, from birds to humans and from animals to humans. What about human to human? 'It appears that this H5 virus has not developed the mutations necessary to easily transmit to humans and to easily transmit from person to person because we don't have any confirmed person-to-person spread either,' Hopkins said. 'That's my deep fear,' Nuzzo said. 'I do know there have been concerns about attention on [bird flu] from the agricultural sector, in part due to USDA cuts and letting go of the staff who worked on H5N1.' With the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, more than 15,000 USDA employees have taken one of two financial incentives to leave the agency. Three of 14 experts responding to disease outbreaks at the National Animal Health Laboratory Network are among the staff that have accepted the offers. Nuzzo said even before the cuts, experts like herself were concerned that states weren't being aggressive enough in responding to H5N1 either because they didn't think it was a problem or because it was on the back burner. 'In 2024, federal agencies regularly held briefings on the topic with both outside experts like myself, but also state and local health officials,' Nuzzo said. 'I think absent that, it's just hard to know what is going on, and it's hard to not assume that things aren't going on. It also makes it hard to say, one way or another, how much of an issue [bird flu] is.' The CDC says the current risk to the general public is low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds. Right at this moment, Nuzzo said, the general public shouldn't be worried about bird flu. 'The people that I'm worried about are people who are being exposed to infected animals,' Nuzzo said, 'and that's largely people in the agricultural sector, the farm workers who have disincentives for coming forward if they become infected.' Immigration labor accounts for 51% of all dairy labor, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. Experts are concerned that undocumented workers are avoiding bird flu testing out of fear of coming forward and being deported under President Trump's immigration crackdown. 'The fear among undocumented workers — especially in the current climate — is real and can significantly impact public health efforts,' Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, told the Telegraph. 'If people don't feel safe coming forward for testing or care, we risk missing early signs of spread, especially in high-risk populations like dairy farm workers,' she added. A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News: 'Farmworkers are typically a hard population to reach, and CDC continues to do outreach through trusted partners.' 'I do think it's important for people to realize that even before COVID, pandemics happened regularly,' Nuzzo said, adding that there were three influenza pandemics in the 20th century: 1918, 1957 and 1968. There was also an influenza pandemic in 2009. 'The fact that most people don't even remember that we had a pandemic in 2009 is because of investments that were made by [then-President] George Bush in 2004, 2005,' Nuzzo said, referring to investments in vaccine development, virus surveillance and people on the ground to respond to a pandemic. Nuzzo said she isn't certain if H5N1 will trigger the next flu pandemic. However, she is certain there will be another pandemic, and it will likely be an influenza pandemic. 'The good news is that we can make flu vaccines; we do have tools to address it, but they're only going to be helpful if we have them when we need them,' Nuzzo said. When asked about the Trump administration's decision to cancel the Moderna bird flu vaccine contract, she said: 'Shutting down the investments today is a very short-sighted move that we very likely will regret in the future.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The U.S. hasn't seen a new confirmed human bird flu case in nearly 4 months — why?
Soaring egg prices and concerns about bird flu spreading from wild birds and cattle to humans were top of mind for many Americans at the beginning of 2025. The topic recently made its way back into headlines when Moderna announced that the Trump administration was canceling a $766 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans. Over the past 15 months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 70 human cases of bird flu across 13 states. The last known cases were reported nearly four months ago, in February, in Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming. California was a hot spot for human bird flu cases, with 38 infections confirmed by January this year. No cases have been reported in the state since. The Associated Press has reported, citing state records, that testing efforts have 'fallen off.' During 2024 at least 50 people were tested per month, compared with three people tested in March, one in April and none in May. 'In recent weeks, the overall number of new animal H5N1 virus infections reported by [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] has declined, reducing the number of people exposed to infected animals, and human cases have declined as well,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. While there's the possibility that the H5N1 virus is waning in the U.S. for the time being, experts are worried that the efforts to monitor bird flu infections is the factor that's actually waning. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, is worried because while these latest cases have been relatively mild, the virus has been 'quite deadly,' historically speaking. 'Of the known human cases that have been identified, about half of them have died, Nuzzo told Yahoo News, 'and that is a truly staggering percentage.' Yahoo News spoke to Nuzzo and Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, in an effort to gain some insight as to why those CDC case numbers haven't budged in humans. 'The short answer is, we don't know,' Nuzzo said. But experts like her have offered some possibilities: 1. Migratory bird patterns have changed: Wild birds are primary spreaders of avian flu. The United States could be experiencing a natural and temporary decline in human cases, which tend to peak in the fall and early winter, possibly because migration patterns have seasonally changed as well, a CDC official noted during a May call with U.S. doctors. 'As we expect to see bird migration patterns rev back up here in the next few months, I suspect we're going to see increased levels of H5N1 in migratory birds,' Hopkins said. 'That's probably going to result in more poultry flocks and more other animals infected. I think that again raises our risk.' 2. It's possible that less of the virus is circulating: Humans can become infected with bird flu through exposure to sick wild birds, poultry, backyard flocks or cattle. Avian flu infections are still being detected in birds and cattle but not as frequently as they were several months ago. 'Since February 2025, there have been fewer affected dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks in the United States, and we believe, fewer workers are being exposed to sick animals,' a CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News in an email. 3. Testing at the state and local levels for H5N1 has decreased: Nuzzo suggested that perhaps there has been an overall reduction in human testing for H5N1, rather than a decrease in viral spread. 'One of the concerns that I have is that states have appeared to be conducting just less general testing for H5N1,' Nuzzo said. 'Those things coupled with a general lack of any communication from federal agencies about H5N1 leaves us very concerned that what we might be seeing is just a contraction of surveillance and not necessarily an abatement of the virus.' A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News that the agency's 'guidance and surveillance efforts for human cases of H5N1 virus infections have not changed. State and local health departments continue to monitor for illness in persons exposed to sick animals. However, no new human cases of H5N1 virus infections have been identified and reported to CDC in recent months.' 4. Less prevalence in wastewater surveillance: People who contract bird flu can shed pieces of the virus through wastewater, like from handwashing, bathing or laundering clothes. But as the CDC website notes, 'Wastewater data cannot determine the source of influenza A viruses.' Nuzzo agrees that wastewater surveillance alone isn't the best method in determining whether human bird flu infections are waning but 'probably the best thing we have in terms of figuring out how much virologic activity is occurring.' Hopkins says the presence of H5N1 showing up in wastewater surveillance has slowed. 'So less virus means less transmission,' Hopkins said. 'They are positive factors for right now, and they don't mean that we won't have greater problems going forward,' he cautioned. For the week ending May 24, out of 340 sites nationwide as part of the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, there were 17 sites, in New Jersey and Oregon, that reported any detection of H5N1, according to the CDC. 5. The current virus strain isn't good at infecting humans: The CDC has confirmed instances of bird flu that have passed from birds to animals, from birds to humans and from animals to humans. What about human to human? 'It appears that this H5 virus has not developed the mutations necessary to easily transmit to humans and to easily transmit from person to person because we don't have any confirmed person-to-person spread either,' Hopkins said. 'That's my deep fear,' Nuzzo said. 'I do know there have been concerns about attention on [bird flu] from the agricultural sector, in part due to USDA cuts and letting go of the staff who worked on H5N1.' With the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, more than 15,000 USDA employees have taken one of two financial incentives to leave the agency. Three of 14 experts responding to disease outbreaks at the National Animal Health Laboratory Network are among the staff that have accepted the offers. Nuzzo said even before the cuts, experts like herself were concerned that states weren't being aggressive enough in responding to H5N1 either because they didn't think it was a problem or because it was on the back burner. 'In 2024, federal agencies regularly held briefings on the topic with both outside experts like myself, but also state and local health officials,' Nuzzo said. 'I think absent that, it's just hard to know what is going on, and it's hard to not assume that things aren't going on. It also makes it hard to say, one way or another, how much of an issue [bird flu] is.' The CDC says the current risk to the general public is low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds. Right at this moment, Nuzzo said, the general public shouldn't be worried about bird flu. 'The people that I'm worried about are people who are being exposed to infected animals,' Nuzzo said, 'and that's largely people in the agricultural sector, the farm workers who have disincentives for coming forward if they become infected.' Immigration labor accounts for 51% of all dairy labor, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. Experts are concerned that undocumented workers are avoiding bird flu testing out of fear of coming forward and being deported under President Trump's immigration crackdown. 'The fear among undocumented workers — especially in the current climate — is real and can significantly impact public health efforts,' Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern, told the Telegraph. 'If people don't feel safe coming forward for testing or care, we risk missing early signs of spread, especially in high-risk populations like dairy farm workers,' she added. A CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News: 'Farmworkers are typically a hard population to reach, and CDC continues to do outreach through trusted partners.' 'I do think it's important for people to realize that even before COVID, pandemics happened regularly,' Nuzzo said, adding that there were three influenza pandemics in the 20th century: 1918, 1957 and 1968. There was also an influenza pandemic in 2009. 'The fact that most people don't even remember that we had a pandemic in 2009 is because of investments that were made by [then-President] George Bush in 2004, 2005,' Nuzzo said, referring to investments in vaccine development, virus surveillance and people on the ground to respond to a pandemic. Nuzzo said she isn't certain if H5N1 will trigger the next flu pandemic. However, she is certain there will be another pandemic, and it will likely be an influenza pandemic. 'The good news is that we can make flu vaccines; we do have tools to address it, but they're only going to be helpful if we have them when we need them,' Nuzzo said. When asked about the Trump administration's decision to cancel the Moderna bird flu vaccine contract, she said: 'Shutting down the investments today is a very short-sighted move that we very likely will regret in the future.'
Miami Herald
11-05-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
How the new Pope Leo XIV's childhood church in Chicago fell into disrepair - and what may lie ahead
CHICAGO - Above the door of the church in the last blocks of Chicago, the Virgin Mary still stands with her arms wide open. The double doors beneath the statue's feet are shut, but a disintegrating wooden side door swings freely, leading to a set of stairs with chipped paint scattered on them. Above, a pool of blue light from a stained-glass window illuminates a balcony where the St. Mary of the Assumption Church choir - including a young boy who would later become the first American-born pope - once sang. Antoinette Nuzzo stepped inside the sanctuary recently, took a look around and thought out loud: "Wow, they took a lot of stuff out of here." Nuzzo, 71, had not been inside St. Mary's since the church's final Mass in the summer of 2011. But she came back Thursday to see what remained of the old sanctuary because it is where Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, began his formal religious journey. The rail where Nuzzo knelt for her first communion as a fourth-grader was gone. The front of the sanctuary where Prevost first served the Catholic Church as an altar boy was covered with two pink and orange graffiti murals, the result of neglect after a series of closures and downsizing ordered by the Archdiocese of Chicago, which sold the parish property in 2019. An alcove that once held a statue is now empty and spray-painted with the words "Oh My God." Nuzzo wondered if the religious sculpture went to the still-operational Christ Our Savior church in South Holland, which absorbed many former St. Mary's parishioners. Many others made the same trip in Leo's first hours as pope, wanting to feel a connection with the South Sider who had just appeared in papal regalia on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. They posed for pictures outside the building and walked gingerly around the crumbling interior, agog that the first American to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics could have roots there. And in doing so, they may have been the site's first unofficial pilgrims. The Chicago area does not lack for holy Catholic sites. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in northwest suburban Des Plaines draws thousands of pilgrims for La Virgen's feast day every December. The Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove bills itself as the second-largest collection of relics in North America. But becoming the hometown of the first American pope could bring crowds on a different order of magnitude to the south suburbs and the city's South Side. Many sites associated with past popes' lives and upbringings have become museums or holy destinations for the faithful, and papacy-themed tourism more broadly often flowers in popes' hometowns. Benedict XVI's birthplace in Germany and John Paul II's old family home in Poland are both now museums, and themed tours of the cities where they spent parts of their lives abound on the internet. The grand basilica where Pope Francis was baptized in Buenos Aires has become a popular stop for tour groups, as well. People who gathered outside the abandoned St. Mary of the Assumption on Thursday mused about what the future might hold for Pope Leo XIV's childhood church, given its new significance. "If he was baptized here, it's a historic place," said Oak Lawn resident Steve Ligda. "I bet (the archdiocese) wishes they didn't close it now." Aaron Hollander, a scholar of theology and culture based in New York, said it made sense for people to spontaneously come out to the church as they sought a sense of connection to the new pope. But the site's religious status in the long term still remains to be seen. "It will depend in part on what Pope Leo does and what he becomes and how his relationship with the faithful changes over time," he said. Hollander said it's likely there may be a push to formalize the site's status as a destination but cautioned that there was no way to predict the intensity of organizing or the official response from the archdiocese. Emily Crews, a scholar of religious life at the University of Chicago Divinity School, said it would be "fascinating" to observe whether St. Mary's or Leo's childhood home, a few blocks away on the 200 block of East141st Place in Dolton, draw religious tourists or pilgrims given their newfound significance to the history of the church. A key factor will be whether the archdiocese would buy either the church or the home, she said. A spokesperson for the archdiocese said there were no plans to repurchase the old parish property and couldn't comment on the future of the pope's childhood home.. So the future of the church remains unclear. The archdiocese merged St. Mary of the Assumption with Queen of Apostles in Riverdale in 2011 to become the St. Mary, Queen of Apostles church. The archdiocese spokesperson said the new congregation was placed at the Riverdale church building because it was in better condition. That congregation merged with two others in 2019 to become Christ Our Savior, according to the archdiocese. Cook County tax records show the archdiocese sold the St. Mary of the Assumption property - which encompasses the church itself, the school, convent, rectory and annex - to a company called Eugene Benjamin Properties in 2019 for just under $250,000. Then the property was sold again in 2022 to the South Side-based JBlendz Holdings, records show. JBlendz Holdings bills itself online as a telecommunication infrastructure maintenance company. One of the company's owners, Joe Hall, fielded questions from reporters Thursday afternoon on the cracked front walk as people trickled in and out, taking smartphone photos. Asked why the site has stood apparently untouched since it changed hands three years ago, Hall cited a series of weather-related setbacks. He said his ambition was to renovate the five buildings on the parcel for community development uses, including a food pantry, and to get it equipped with free Wi-Fi. Hall said he had planned to keep the church building itself as a space of worship. But he acknowledged that the news from Vatican City might scramble the rest. "Whatever plan we thought we had, it's all been changed in the last few hours," he said. That said, he added, he would not sell or lease the property "unless it had anything to do with the pope, period." Late on Thursday, Dolton Village Trustee Stanley Brown took in the church's facade from beneath his black cap. He'd passed by the building for years, he said. And he was chuffed to know that it suddenly had a place in the history of the Catholic Church, particularly after the village had weathered years of political turmoil. "For all the things we've been going through, (God) sent us the pope here in Dolton," he said. "So that is a blessing." It was early evening by the time Laura Mathews traipsed through the building in her neon crossing-guard vest and reflective sunglasses. Every few steps, she'd shout, "I remember this!" Mathews, 71, remembered wearing the blue and white jumper uniform as an elementary student at St. Mary's, and trying to stay out of the way of one particular nun, Sister Cecilia. She said she'd never forget the thunderstorm the night of her first communion. She recalled glaring at the crucifix the first Easter after her mother died. As a young woman, she quit going to church and questioned her faith. Eventually, she said, she came back around. Nuzzo reminisced about the white dress and the hat with flowers she'd worn for her first communion. They both remembered the pope's parents, a school superintendent and a librarian, reading in front of the congregation, and picnics on the back lawn and carnivals in the parking lot. They remembered where the baby room had been and where the rosaries had been kept. Looking around for the first time in 14 years, they saw the stained glass had largely survived. The place was gutted. The air smelled like must. But looking up at the windows, the friends were amazed by how much - including the memories - remained. (Chicago Tribune reporter A. D. Quig contributed.) --- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
