Mayor Johnson continues Italy trip by touring historic sites with Rome mayor after pope meeting

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson is in Italy, touring historic sites with the mayor of Rome Friday.

This follows his Vatican visit Thursday with Pope Leo XIV.

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The mayor's office shared photos of Thursday's papal visit.

Johnson is traveling with a delegation of nearly four dozen representatives.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacey Davis Gates; Yusef Jackson, the president and CEO of Rainbow PUSH Coalition; and some unexpected figures like Mary Dillon, the former Foot Locker CEO are part of the delegation.

Talks ranged from the war in Iran to concerns about poverty, immigration and affordability.

Mayor Johnson and his team say they presented the pope with the key to the city and brought a few gifts, including giardiniera and White Sox merch.

Mayor Johnson also extended an invitation for the pope to come back to Chicago and celebrate a Mass in Grant Park next year.

Pope John Paul II visited Chicago in October 1979. He said Mass in Grant Park, and roughly a million people came to see him.

The mayor returns home Saturday.

The trip is funded in part by World Business Chicago, an economic development agency.