U.S. ambassador describes July 4 dinner with Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV still has a Peruvian credit card, wakes in the middle of the night and checks soccer results, follows the Chicago White Sox, and uses a cellphone.

He is also, according to Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, a pope keenly aware of his role as pastor of the universal Church, careful not to give the impression of being merely an American pope and frustrated that his actions are sometimes interpreted as anti-Trump or anti-U.S. gestures.

Burch offered that personal portrait of the Holy Father in a conversation with a small group of Italian journalists about the historic July 4 dinner he hosted for Leo at Villa Richardson, the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

The pope came in person to the residence, prayed with Burch’s family, and shared a meal that included American charcuterie, watermelon salad, Chicago-style hot dogs, apple pie, and gelato. According to Burch, Leo approved of the menu. The evening was informal rather than bilateral: The pope arrived without secretaries, accompanied only by two Vatican gendarmes.

Burch said he had wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States by inviting the first U.S.-born pope in history to dinner. The…