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“I know what the world wants,” he explained. “It wants truth, beauty and goodness. And so how can I give that to the world? And I started brainstorming ideas – what’s something impossible that would require God to intervene and help me get there? Delivering a pizza to the pope.”
This wasn’t just any pizza. It had to come from the flagship Aurelio’s in Homewood, Illinois — the home of the “Poperoni Pizza” and, thanks to a viral 2024 photo, believed to be Pope Leo XIV’s favorite spot.
Trouble on the Road
Remias and a childhood friend set out from Ohio to Illinois to pick up the prized pizza. But halfway there, disaster hit — their van’s battery died.
Most people would have called it quits. Not Remias. The pair managed to get the van running again and made it to Aurelio’s. The restaurant staff, probably thinking he was joking, still prepared the pizza.
But just as the mission was set to continue, another curveball came — Remias couldn’t make the trip to Rome. That’s when he tapped Madeline Daley, interim social media coordinator for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, to take the pizza the rest of the way.
Clearing TSA With a Pizza for the Pope
Daley was already heading to the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers in Vatican City — now with an unusual carry-on.
“Keep it frozen as much as we possibly could,” Daley said of her plan to get the pizza overseas. She packed it in a cooler with dry ice and coordinated with TSA to ensure it passed inspection. Somehow, the pizza cleared security and boarded the flight to Rome without incident.
From Sacred Cargo to… the Trash?
Just when the finish line was in sight, calamity struck again.
“The pizza was thrown out by a maid at one of the apartments and in a trash can far away from our apartment, double wrapped in plastic, so still completely safe, but thrown out,” Daley recalled.
Daley’s mother begged the landlord to locate the pizza. “Please tell me where the trash is. I will go find it myself. You don’t understand how important this pizza is,” she pleaded. Hours later, the landlord returned, triumphantly holding the rescued box.
Daley scribbled a note to the Pope inside the lid: “This pizza is most likely perfectly fine to eat, but I probably wouldn’t eat it myself.”
The Papal Payoff
On delivery day, Daley stood in St. Peter’s Square with two big signs: “We have Aurelio’s Pizza” and “Pope Leo, I brought you 🍕 from Chicago.”
When the Popemobile approached, the moment unfolded like destiny. “And when he turned the corner around St. Peter’s Square, he saw the sign that we had [with] the pizza brand logo on it, and his face lit up,” Daley said.
The Pope’s security detail handed him the pizza box. Pope Leo XIV smiled, holding the gift, and gave the crowd a thumbs-up.
Joe Aurelio, the restaurant owner, was overjoyed. “The pope is one of us,” he told Fox News Digital. “He remembers where he came from, and we’ve already received so many blessings from his previous love and visits at Aurelio’s, so this is just another blessing to have him acknowledge our pizza at St. Peter’s Square.”
Faith, Grit, and a Pizza Box
For Remias, the lesson was clear. “Nothing is impossible if you trust in God,” he said. “I’m just in awe of what God was able to do and how He made a way for it.”
From a dead van battery to a TSA inspection to digging a pizza out of a trash can, every challenge was met with determination and creativity. The Pope got his pizza — and the world got a reminder that persistence, faith, and a little humor can make the impossible happen.
