Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs presented Pope Leo XIV with a certificate allowing the pontiff to claim $8.65 of his own money that had been sitting in the state’s unclaimed property vault, the treasurer’s office said Friday.
The money originated from a PayPal account in the pope’s name that had been closed, according to Frerichs. The state’s unclaimed property program — which Frerichs administers — had been holding the funds since before the former Chicago archbishop Robert Prevost ascended to the papacy last year.
Frerichs, a Democrat, said the discovery came after the pope’s election. “We found this money last year after he became pope,” Frerichs told Capitol News Illinois in a phone call Thursday from Italy. “We reached out to the local archdiocese trying to get him to claim it, and it fell through the cracks.”
The Vatican meeting was part of a broader trip by Frerichs to Italy. He delivered the certificate during a papal audience, according to the treasurer’s office.
The $8.65 certificate is the latest in a string of Illinois-themed gifts brought to the Vatican since Pope Leo XIV’s election. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presented the pope with a Chicago-brewed “Da Pope” beer last year. Other Illinois leaders have brought city-sourced giardiniera, an University of Illinois No. 14 jersey, and Chicago White Sox merchandise.
Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago, has maintained ties to his home state since becoming pontiff. The state’s unclaimed property program, led by the treasurer, holds abandoned cash, stocks, bonds, and other assets from dormant accounts and returned more than $300 million to Illinois residents in the past fiscal year.