PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 29, 2026
POPE LEO GREETS CHICAGO CATHOLICS ORGANIZING FOR HUMAN, IMMIGRANT, AND RELIGIOUS RIGHTS
OUR ‘HOLY REBELLION’ SEEKS TO ‘TRANSFORM REALITIES OF PAIN INTO SPACES OF HOPE’
Official photos from Vatican Media
Photos from Rome and the past year of the campaign
Holy Resistance: Video about CSPL’s work over the past year
Photos of letters written by detainees to Pope Leo
A journey to reestablish pastoral access and spiritual care for detained immigrants, which began over a year ago in Chicago, reached the Vatican Wednesday morning. The delegation of Chicago-area members of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership — including Catholic clergy, women religious, and laypeople, accompanied by Bishop Maldonado — thanked Pope Leo for his support for human, immigrant, and religious rights. The CSPL delegation traveled from the Pope's hometown, bringing the hopes and struggles of neighbors to the Chicago-born Pope. It was a moment of connection between the grassroots Church and the universal Church.
Delegates Abigail Ortiz Valles and Tiffany Swann-Covington shared words that visibly moved Pope Leo, just as his words have moved the world (see full statements below). The Holy Father nodded, affirmed, and received the handmade book CSPL shared as a gift, which contains stories, photographs, and prayers from detained immigrants and the Coalition’s multiracial members.
The CSPL delegation also took a photo with Pope Leo. On the banner they held was the message: “The Church...needs your holy rebellion,” taken from a speech he recently delivered to a group of youth: “The Church…needs your holy rebellion, your pure energy, your desire to transform realities of pain into spaces of hope.”
“Today, the voices of people detained at the Broadview ICE facility, suffering the pain of separation from their families, reached the Vatican. People who are isolated and invisible were not forgotten today. Immigration policy may divide Americans politically, but the dignity of the human person is not a partisan issue; it is at the heart of our Catholic faith. The Church cannot simply speak about human dignity. We have to show up where that dignity is threatened,” said Peter Jones, CSPL Board Member; Professor, Loyola University Chicago.
Also this week, the delegation met with leaders at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which is the Vatican office that promotes work on social justice, including migration. Delegates discussed immigration, public health, and environmental justice organizing efforts.
This pilgrimage to Rome comes in the wake of the Coalition’s organizing efforts to restore pastoral care for detainees at Broadview. CSPL is in an active lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. Litigation will continue this fall. CSPL hopes to make daily pastoral visits an enduring right that continues as long as this ministry is needed. See the full arc of the social justice and legal campaign, and links to news coverage, here.
Daily pastoral care visits from a rotation of 75 volunteer CSPL ministers inside Broadview began in mid-May under a preliminary injunction. Since then, CSPL has not missed a single visit and has conducted more than 135 visits to date, providing spiritual and pastoral care to more than 725 migrants in Broadview. The ministry is an interfaith and ecumenical effort.
Statement delegate Abigail Ortiz Valles shared with Pope Leo: “Papa León, I'm Abigail Ortiz Valles, a lay Scalabriniana and member of CSPL. I present this album with photos and messages from our coalition and our detained sisters and brothers. I am part of the Broadview ministry that accompanies them, and I see the face of Jesus and his passion in each person I meet there. Like that mother with 3 children and one with special needs who was detained at the bus stop. I have a lot of stories, but the only thing they ask for are prayers. Thank you for your support.”
Abigail Ortiz Valles
Tiffany Swann-Covington
Statement delegate Tiffany Swann-Covington shared with Pope Leo: On behalf of CSPL, we would be grateful if you would share video-recorded words of encouragement for our 10-year anniversary in June. We also wish to thank you for your remarks affirming the importance of pastoral care for detained immigrants at Broadview. You’ve inspired us and countless Bishops to continue this work across the country. Please continue to pray and encourage us with your words and guidance. We pray for your continued health and wellness.”
About the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership: CSPL is a Catholic and Christian-rooted community organizing coalition of over 65 parishes, universities, religious orders, and community organizations that labors to transform racial, economic, social, and environmental systemic structures through grassroots coalition-building, community organizing, and liberative formation. More at csplaction.org.
Media Contacts
Sarah Rand (in Rome, 6 hours ahead of Chicago), sarah@rand-strategies.com, 312-513-1035 on WhatsApp
Gordon Mayer (in Chicago), gordon@gordonmayercommunications.com, 312-307-0133
Spokespeople
Michael N. Okińczyc-Cruz, CSPL Executive Director
Bishop José Maria Garcia Maldonado
Fr. Paul Keller, CMF, Provincial for the Claretian Missionaries, CSPL Clergy Council
Sister Christin Tomy, OP, Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa and Dominican University, CSPL Women Religious Council
Father Dan Hartnett, SJ, Jesuits and CSPL Clergy Council (*not traveling to Rome)
Father David Inczauskis (*not traveling to Rome)
Delegation
The delegation reflects the diversity of the coalition it represents. Members come from neighborhoods and suburbs, including Back of the Yards, Austin, North Lawndale, Bronzeville, Cicero, Melrose Park, Rogers Park, and Evanston, and they range in age from young people to elders.
Bishop José Maria Garcia Maldonado, Auxiliary Bishop of Vicariate IV of the Archdiocese of Chicago
Michael Okińczyc-Cruz, CSPL Staff
Peter Jones, Loyola University - Institute of Pastoral Studies
Father Paul Keller, Claretian Religious Order
Gabriel Lara, CSPL Staff
Ryan Lents, CSPL Staff
Joanna Arellano-Gonzalez, CSPL Staff
Mia Cornelius, St. Simon of Cyrene Parish
Byron Diggs, Our Lady of Africa Parish
Paloma Garcia-Lopez, University of Notre Dame - Institute of Latino Studies
Irma Hernandez, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Melrose Park & Scalabrinians
Ollie Mamaril, St. James on Wabash Parish
Angelica Montalvo, Our Lady of Charity & Hispanic Deacons Council
Deacon Maximino Montalvo, Our Lady of Charity & Hispanic Deacons Council
Pablo Montalvo, CSPL Staff
Abigail Ortiz Valles, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Melrose Park & Scalabrinians
Sr. Kristin Peters, St. James on Wabash & Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
Irma Pineda, St. Oscar Romero Parish
Deacon Javier Pineda, St. Oscar Romero Parish
Jackie Ramirez-Lopez, Student, DePaul University & St. Oscar Romero Parish
Sarah Rand, CSPL Communications
Jeanne Rattenbury, St. Gertrude’s Parish
Sue Ross, Visitation Parish
Juliana Soto, Student, DePaul University
Richard Spearman, St. Simon of Cyrene & Black Deacons Council Candidate
Tiffany Swann-Covington, Our Lady of Africa, St. Ignatius & Loyola University - Institute of Pastoral Studies
Sr. Christin Tomy, Dominican University - University Ministry & Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
Anthony Williams, Our Lady of Africa Parish
