The Village of Dolton plans to take ownership of Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home through eminent domain.
Despite the current owner’s plans to sell the home to the highest bidder in an auction next month, the village “intends to purchase the home either through direct purchase or through eminent domain powers,” village attorney Burton Odelson wrote in a letter Tuesday.
The pope’s parents purchased the home, at 212 E. 141st Place, new in 1949, paying a $42 monthly mortgage.
The current owners purchased the home intending to flip it and sell it. They renovated the home last year and on May 5, put it on the market, listing it for $219,000.
However, it was quickly taken off the market after Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope. The Realtor and owner had weighed what to do with Pope Leo’s former home, including restoring it to how the pope may have remembered it in his childhood or turning it into a viewing home or a museum.
Ultimately the owners decided to put the Cape Cod-style home up for auction, according to brokers iCandy Realty.
Odelson sent the letter to Paramount Realty USA, the New York-based auction house chosen to sell off the home on June 18.
“Please inform any prospective buyers that their ‘purchase’ may only be temporary since the Village intends to begin the eminent domain process very shortly,” he wrote.
Odelson sent the letter at the direction of newly elected Dolton Mayor Jason House.
Eminent domain, or “condemnation,” will allow the village to take possession of the home for public use, even if the owner doesn’t want to sell it.
iCandy Realty could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oldeson said the village plans to work with the Archdiocese of Chicago to come up with a plan that will allow the home to be viewed and visited by the public as a historic site.
The archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, the Village Board unanimously approved a resolution to designate 141st Place, from Indiana Avenue to Manor Avenue where the house is located, as Pope Leo XIV Place.
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