Archbishop Cupich, Pope Francis to meet for first time in Rome

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (WLS) -- An historic meeting will be taking place between Chicago's Archbishop Blase Cupich and Pope Francis.

In just a few days, the city's new archbishop will be face-to-face with the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Archbishop Cupich is called Pope Francis' pick for Chicago, with the pope apparently personally choosing him to lead Chicago's Catholics. Yet despite that, the two church leaders have never even met. All that changes in just a few days, and some Chicagoans who are traveling to Rome for the event can't wait to be firsthand witnesses to history.

"I'm so excited to go! I'm so excited to go!" said Peg Barry.

In Park Ridge, Barry is getting ready for her trip to Rome. She's part of a group of pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Chicago who will be on hand for a special honor for Chicago's new archbishop.

"I look at this as a holy pilgrimage really, there are so many wonderful people from the Chicago archdiocese that are going to be there," Barry said.

This Monday, Archbishop Cupich will concelebrate a mass with Pope Francis inside St. Peter's Basilica and the pope will present him with a pallium. It's a scarf-like garment that is given by the pope to archbishops after they are selected to lead an archdiocese. Archbishop George received his pallium in 1997. It's a symbol of the archbishop's union with the pope and the authority to lead Chicago Catholics.

This special wool cloth has been made by the same group of nuns in Rome for centuries, and receiving one is such a big deal that every year the pope even blesses the sheep that provide the wool from which the cloth is made.

"I think that I'm going to really look for an opportunity to greet the holy father at the Pallium mass, to thank him for appointing me here but to tell him what a great archdiocese this is and to tell him what a great city Chicago is," Archbishop Cupich said.

This will be the first time that Archbishop Cupich will get to meet Pope Francis, but he's not preparing a list of questions or topics for the pontiff.

"I think he's the one who's going to control the discussion, I'm not going to come in with a laundry list so he's given me everything anybody could ever ask for, I get to be the archbishop of Chicago," Archbishop Cupich said.

"I think it's going to be extremely humbling. I think being in the presence of such holy, dedicated men, I think it's a tremendous humbling experience," Barry said.

While Pope Francis will present the pallium to Archbishop Cupich, the archbishop won't actually wear it until it is placed on his shoulders during a special mass later this summer here in Chicago.