(RNS) — Bennison’s Bakery, a shop in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago, is having great success with a recent addition to its selection: cookies plastered with an edible picture of Pope Leo XIV, waving to the crowd after his election.
As soon as news came that Leo — who grew up as Robert Prevost on East 141st Place in the Chicago suburb of Dolton — had been elected pope, Bennison’s owner, Jory Downer, called the shop and said, “No one can leave,” according to Jennifer Fournier, the bakery’s supervisor.
The Bennison team raced to find the photo of Leo and gave it to the store’s image cookie specialist, who designed a cookie bordered with sprinkles in Vatican red, white and yellow. The first day, the bakery sold 60 papal cookies, and it has now moved more than 2,000, including those they’ve shipped out of town in boxes.
“I kind of thought it would have died out by now, but nope,” Fournier said.
Church leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago are hoping the same excitement that’s driving demand for Leo-based baked goods will translate into a renewal of the city’s famously deeply lived Catholic faith. For years, the archdioce …