Pope Leo XIV Gets His Lincoln

By Ed Epstein

Washington D.C.

Friday, November 21, 2025

What does the visiting governor of Illinois get the first Chicago-born pope as a gift when he visits the pontiff at the Vatican?

Lincoln: The Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation in 100 Objects, a new book featuring dozens of objects from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. The book, authored by Christina Shutt, the ALPLM's executive director, and Ian Hunt, director of acquisitions, was published in late September by Rizzoli USA.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV for 40 minutes on Wednesday. They talked about immigration. Pritzker has clashed with the Trump administration over its crackdown on immigrants, and Catholic bishops have also been critical. Pritzker also invited the 70-year-old pope to visit his hometown.

The Lincoln book wasn't the only gift the pope got. Pritzker also gave him artwork created by women jailed in an Illinois prison, cans of Burning Bush Brewery's Da Pope American Mild Ale, and a history of the governor's mansion in Springfield written by Pritzker's wife, M.K., who accompanied the governor.

The new Lincoln book accompanies a new exhibit at the Springfield museum featuring well-known Lincoln-related objects and documents but also many lesser-known ones. These include the desk at which Lincoln wrote his first inaugural address and a Medal of Honor awarded to a Black Civil War soldier.

Among the lesser-known items is a legal document about the freeing of Nancy Legins-Costley, the first Black slave emancipated through Lincoln's efforts. Lincoln the lawyer won her case in 1841 before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Pritzker, a billionaire who has bought a few rare Lincoln items that he has given to the ALPLM, wrote the foreword to the new volume. “The items shown here let us step into Lincoln’s shoes as he went through life. They help us see the human, not just the symbol, and take greater inspiration from his life," Pritzker wrote.

Image from Rizzoli USA