The students from Chicago's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy, who went viral for their mock conclave, met Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City Wednesday.

The grade schoolers traveled to Rome Monday to attend a general audience with the pope in St. Peter's Square. The students went viral in May when they held a mock conclave — complete with votes, white smoke, and full costumes as cardinals, Swiss Guards, and a newly elected pontiff — in order to learn about the conclave and church in the wake of Pope Francis' death.

They were visited by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich after Pope Leo XIV, a native of Chicago's South Side , was elected as the new pontiff, and he helped facilitate their meeting with Pope Leo Wednesday in St. Peter's Square.

The students were seated near the front of the

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