Tickets for an event celebrating Pope Leo XIV’s election to lead the Catholic Church are sold out.
The event will be held on June 14 at Rate Field in the pope’s hometown of Chicago. Although the pope will not be in attendance, he will give a video message to attendees.
“The celebration will feature a video message from Pope Leo XIV to the young people of the world, which will be broadcast first from our event, there will also be celebration prayer music,” the Archdiocese of Chicago said.
Tickets for the event were $5. More than 9,000 tickets were sold in the first 15 minutes. That number climbed to 20,000 by the end of the day. By Friday, all tickets for the 40,000 seating capacity venue were sold out, according to Newsweek. The event will also be streamed online.
The event clashed with Donald Trump’s parade which he claims is a celebration of the Army’s 250th year. The date coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
Then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policy. As pope, his comments have already put him on a collision course with the administration.
In his first address to world diplomats, Pope Leo said the dignity of migrants had to be respected, adding that his own background made him feel compelled to call for compassion and solidarity with those seeking a better life in other countries, Reuters reports.
“My own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate,” he told ambassadors at the Vatican.
“All of us, in the course of our lives, can find ourselves healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our native land or in a foreign country, yet our dignity always remains unchanged. It is the dignity of a creature willed and loved by God,” he added.
Pope Leo’s remarks came as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement of their hardline immigration agenda, including sending undocumented migrants to foreign prisons and deporting sick children.
