Vatican City’s been a popular spot for Illinois dignitaries since Chicago native Robert Prevost ascended to the papacy last year.

Leaders from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to lawmakers to Gov. JB Pritzker have come bearing gifts for Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV — a Chicago-brewed “Da Pope” beer, city-sourced giardiniera, an Illini No. 14 jersey, Chicago White Sox gear and more.

Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs’ gift, however, was possibly the most on brand. He delivered the pontiff a certificate to reclaim $8.65 of his own money, a sum the successor of St. Peter had held in a now-closed PayPal account.

The money had been sitting in Illinois’ unclaimed property account, and Frerichs — the account’s administrator — has been trying to return it.

“We found this money last year after he became pope,” Frerichs told Capitol News Illinois in a phone call Thursday morning while still in Italy. “We reached out to the local archdiocese trying to get him to claim it, and it fell through the cracks.”

Plan B? “Well, let’s deliver it in person,” he said.

That opportunity came to fruition on Wednesday.

He was invited to accompany a delegation organized by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and he and his wife Erica decided to make it a personal trip. He was raised Lutheran, she’s Catholic.

They paid for the trip personally, he said, using no campaign or state funds.

“My wife and I came together and made it a bit of a longer trip,” he said. “But I figured when I had the opportunity to meet the pope, you would take it.”

He also gifted the pontiff a commemorative Abraham Lincoln coin from a leftover supply the treasurer’s office had minted years ago, and a book about Chicago history. Erica Frerichs brought some of her family’s rosaries for the pope to bless.

As for the $8.65, Frerichs acknowledged that it’s garnered good press. It’s an election year, and Frerichs is slated to face Max Solomon in the general election, who won the GOP nod as a write-in candidate.

But his marketing of unclaimed property is nothing new.

“We know when people hear about our unclaimed property department, when they see an example of a real person getting money, more people visit our website, and when more people visit our website, we return more money,” he said. “Part of the reason we have smashed records on unclaimed property is because of how we market it differently.”

Frerichs first became treasurer in 2015, and his office has since returned more than $2.5 billion to more than 2.5 million people. That means Pope Leo’s PayPal windfall accounts for roughly 0.00000034% of the money returned.

“Some of them are amazing,” he said of the returns of unclaimed property. “We have an $11 million return, which is the largest in U.S. history. We’ve had million-dollar returns, half million. And some for only $8.65 actually probably will be the most memorable ones of my time in office.”

Upon receipt of the certificate from Frerichs, the pope chuckled and shared a now oft-repeated anecdote about calling his bank to close an account, only to be hung up on when revealing himself to be Pope Leo.

“It’s a true, slightly modified, but true story,” the pope can be heard saying in a video of the interaction. “A bank in Illinois.”

Frerichs told CNI he “completely understood that.”

He shared an anecdote from a few years back, when he had an issue with a bank that threatened to turn a sum of money over to the state’s unclaimed property administrator.

“I said, ‘Sure, go ahead and do that,’ and they said, ‘Sir, we don’t think you understand, it’ll be more work to claim it from your state’s unclaimed property administrator than to do what we’re asking you to do,’” he said.

“And I said, ‘No, I think I understand our state’s unclaimed property pretty well, go ahead and send it. … You’ll be sending it to me, because I am the state’s unclaimed property administrator,’” he said. “And then there was a pause, and they said, ‘Let me get a manager.’”

So, what’s next for Pope Leo?

“He just has to give us an address to mail the check to,” Frerichs said.

Any Illinoisan can check to see if they have unclaimed property on the treasurer’s website, icash.illinoistreasurer.gov/.

New legislation in Illinois means new rules for electric bikes, scooters, and similar devices. Supporters of the legislation said the goal is to prevent injuries and fatalities, but some e-bike riders question the additional cost that would be involved.

Benjamin Rodriguez, who recently bought an electric bike, said he knows the responsibility that comes with enjoying a ride.

“For a lot of the bikers that are going very fast on these e-bikes, e-scooters, especially along the lakefront, make it dangerous for other regular cyclists, because most of the time they’re just zipping along. They’re not paying attention,” he said.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office said injuries and fatalities involving these types of devices increased 300% nationwide between 2019 and 2022. With that in mind, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said the passage of Senate Bill 3484 is a priority for public safety.

“Some of these devices have become faster, more powerful, and more dangerous than we could have ever have imagined, especially even just a couple of years ago,” he said.

Right now, there’s no statewide regulation in Illinois on high-speed electric bikes.

Senate Bill 3484, which was passed by state lawmakers at the end of their spring session, would require the owners of those devices statewide to only ride on the street, not on sidewalks, not in bike lanes, and not on bike paths.

Riders also would be required to have a valid driver’s license, title, registration, and insurance for their bikes.

“That may be a little too over the top, because you’re already paying several thousand dollars for these vehicles, but at the same time there needs to be some type of regulation to say where they could ride, how fast they could go, because they should be obeying the speed limits as well,” Rodriguez said.

When it comes to electric skateboards, electric unicycles, and high-speed electric scooters, the legislation would require operators to be at least 16 years old, and go no faster than 28 mph on a sidewalk. Those devices would be allowed on bike lanes, bike paths, and roads with speed limits of up to 35 mph. They could only be used on roads with a speed limit of more than 35 mph if there is a bike lane.

Dr. Michelle Macy, a pediatric emergency physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital, said she’s seen minor injuries, but also severe ones.

“Head injuries that are severe enough that someone’s lost consciousness and needs to have a breathing tube and spend days and weeks in the intensive care unit,” she said.

The legislation now goes to Gov. JB Pritzker. If he signs the bill into law, or allows it to go into effect without his signature, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.