Basil Russo meets Pope Leo XIV
All roads lead to Rome.
Basil Russo understands this.
Now in his fourth term as president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO), Russo has again led his members to a face-to-face meeting with the Vicar of Christ. This is the second Vatican summit for Russo. The first was in 2022 when he and members of COPOMIAO met with Pope Francis.
This time, he and the national group of Italian American leaders met the first Italian American pope—Pope Leo XIV.
After his weekly General Audience on September 9, where he addressed thousands of pilgrims from around the world, gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV met with Russo and members of the Italian American delegation. The meeting was historic. Pope Leo XIV—the first Italian American pope—stood among members of a community that shared his heritage.
Several members of the delegation had an especially meaningful connection to the pontiff: Like Pope Leo, their families came from Sicily. Russo is Sicilian American, as is one of the delegates, Manuele LaTorre, a principal of the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, and Danielle Salasavage, national vice president of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America.
Another Sicilian American in the delegation was Charles Marsala, whose family has been active in Italian American affairs in New Orleans for three generations. Marsala shared an even more unusual connection with Pope Leo: both have ancestral ties to Sicily and New Orleans, linking two places that played important roles in the Italian American story.
Basil Russo meets Pope Leo XIV
______
Will The Pope Visit America?
Chicago is where Pope Leo XIV was born—and raised—on September 14, 1955 as Robert Francis Prevost. An older brother, John, still lives in Illinois, in the village of New Lenox, about 40 miles from Chicago.
One of the Italian American leaders of the COPOMIAO delegation was Ron Onesti. He continues to lead a group in Chicago to restore the Columbus statues torn down there in 2020. He could play a key role in a possible visit by Pope Leo XIV to his home city of Chicago.
Whether the meeting of Italian American leaders, led by Basil Russo, will help pave the way for the pope’s eventual return to his home country remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the gathering itself, outside the gates of St. Peter’s Basilica, offered the American-born pope a personal reminder of his Italian American connection. That alone might inspire Pope Leo XIV to return to America for a cherished visit.
Group photo of COPOMIAO delegates with Pope Leo XIV
⸻
Catholic Connection
Later that day, Russo and Italian American leaders met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The topic of the sit-down meeting was how to further strengthen cultural ties between Italian Americans and the Vatican.
Discussions focused on preserving Catholic traditions, engaging younger generations, and strengthening collaboration between Italian American institutions and the Holy See.
“Our Catholic faith is deeply woven into the Italian American experience and remains one of the strongest bonds connecting our community across generations,” Russo said. “This visit gave COPOMIAO an extraordinary opportunity to ensure our relationship with the Vatican continues to grow with purpose.”
Across the United States, religious feasts honoring the Madonna and patron saints continue to fill churches, streets, and neighborhoods with processions, Masses, and celebrations whose origins often stretch back more than a century. Many of these traditions were brought to America by immigrants from the towns and villages of Italy.
Leaders within COPOMIAO, such as Gilda Rorro, an educator in New Jersey, who has crafted a curriculum for public schools to incorporate Italian history and cultural contributions, continue to play an important role in preserving our legacy in America.
Group photo of COPOMIAO delegates with Cardinal Parolin
______
Strategy Session
The mission to Rome began on September 7 when COPOMIAO delegates gathered for dinner at Antica Osteria Croce, near the Spanish Steps.
Accompanied by his wife, Patricia, Russo welcomed the delegation and outlined an ambitious schedule for the days ahead. The Vatican would be at the heart of the mission, but the itinerary extended well beyond the Holy See, with meetings planned at the U.S. Embassy in Rome and with leaders of Italy’s Parliament.
“In recent years, COPOMIAO has united hundreds of organizations around a shared mission to preserve and promote our history, traditions and values,” Russo said. “Our growing relationship with the Vatican brings an essential spiritual dimension to that work and helps carry our community’s journey full circle.”
At Russo’s side throughout the mission was John Deike, a longtime communications strategist who handles media relations for COPOMIAO. In Rome, he helped coordinate the communications effort surrounding diplomatic and parliamentary meetings and the highest levels of the Vatican.
Paul Finizio, George Bochetto, Basil Russo, Alice Salvo, Giampaolo Girardi, and Armando Paz
_____
Embassy Entourage
Russo organized a meeting for September 8 at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, located at 121 Via Vittorio Veneto. There, members of the Italian American delegation gathered for discussions on U.S.-Italian relations. Among those attending was U.S. Rep. Mike Rulli, a Republican representing Ohio’s 6th Congressional District.
The ornate surroundings of the embassy provided a fitting backdrop for a diplomatic mission taking place at a consequential moment in relations between the United States and Italy. The two longtime NATO allies have confronted an increasingly complicated international landscape, dominated by the war in Ukraine, the continuing crisis in Gaza and, more recently, the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Those pressures became particularly evident in March, when Italy denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily before continuing to the Middle East. Italian officials said the United States had not obtained the required prior authorization for the flights, while maintaining that relations between the two countries remained strong. In the months that followed, however, differences over the Iran conflict contributed to unusually public friction between Washington and Rome.
As Washington and Rome navigate their recent differences, Russo and COPOMIAO could serve an important informal role in strengthening dialogue between the two countries, drawing upon relationships cultivated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Group photo at the U.S. Embassy in Rome; far right, U.S. Representative Mike Rulli
____
Law and Politics
In addition to serving as president of COPOMIAO, Russo, a retired judge, presides over the Justinian Forum, the Italian American bar association in Cleveland. Several attorneys were among the delegates who met with Sen. Mariastella Gelmini—herself an attorney—at Palazzo Madama, the historic seat of the Italian Senate.
The delegation’s outreach to Italy’s political leadership continued the following day at Montecitorio, home of the Chamber of Deputies, where COPOMIAO members met with Lorenzo Fontana, president of the Chamber. The meetings provided Italian American leaders with an opportunity to strengthen ties with officials at the highest levels of Italy’s parliamentary government.
Philadelphia attorney George Bochetto, who has emerged as a leading figure in Italian American advocacy, brought a formidable legal résumé to the Rome delegation. As national counsel for COPOMIAO, Bochetto successfully fought Philadelphia’s attempt to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from Marconi Plaza and later helped win a separate court battle restoring Columbus Day as an official city holiday after former Mayor Jim Kenney had replaced it by executive order.
In Rome, Bochetto brought that experience to discussions on strengthening institutional ties among Italian Americans, Italy, and the Vatican. His participation carried another Vatican connection as well. Pope Leo XIV has made the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence an emerging priority of his pontificate, establishing an Inter-Dicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence earlier this year. Bochetto is among a small number of Italian Americans selected to work alongside the Vatican initiative and engage with American leaders in the development of AI.
Bochetto was not the only attorney among the delegates. Armando Paz, an attorney and professor of business law at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, serves as president of the Italian American Lawyers Association. Giampaolo Girardi, an attorney based in Rome, is treasurer of the National Italian American Bar Association, further linking the delegation to legal communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Law, politics and diplomacy frequently intersected during the mission. U.S. Rep. Mike Rulli of Ohio’s 6th Congressional District participated in the delegation, including its meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Also present was James C. Lisa, publisher and editor of the Queens Times and president of the Italian American Political Action Committee, or I AM PAC, an organization active in supporting candidates and increasing Italian American participation in New York politics.
Together, the delegation represented more than cultural and fraternal organizations. Its ranks included attorneys, an educator, a member of Congress, a newspaper publisher and political and civic leaders—giving COPOMIAO a network of experience spanning law, government, communications and Italian American advocacy.
Catholic pilgrims gather in intense heat at St. Peter's Square
____
Pope’s Message
The delegation’s Vatican visit preceded Pope Leo XIV’s Wednesday General Audience.
Thousands of Catholic pilgrims withstood intense heat inside St. Peter’s Square to enthusiastically greet the pope and hear him speak about the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes. He called upon Christians to defend human dignity in every circumstance with “the light and strength of the Gospel.”
The Pope described recognition of fundamental human rights as one of the great achievements in human history. Old injustices persist, he observed, while new contradictions and challenges continue to emerge.
Quoting his encyclical Magnifica humanitas, the Pope emphasized that every person is “planned and willed by God” for communion with Him, with other people and with creation. “Human dignity does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made. Instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of His unfailing love.”
He concluded with a call to Christians to make the defense of human dignity an active part of their faith.
“Created in God’s image, through Christ and for His sake, we have received a unique and indelible dignity. Let us commit ourselves to promoting and defending it always,” said Pope Leo XIV.
_____
Editor's Note: The website for COPOMIAO is https://copomiao.org
The website for the Vatican is www.vatican.va
READ HERE THE NEW EDITION - FIRST 2026 PRIMO
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Please visit our DVDs Page to shop our latest collection of DVDs on all things Italian: Films from Italy's Golden Age, Documentaries on Italian American life, ancient Rome, and religion.
Please visit our Books' page to review our latest inventory of books on all things Italian: cookbooks, history, art and culture.
Other articles to read...
