(Reuters) -Neither tariffs, nor plunging consumer and business sentiment, nor President Donald Trump’s pointed criticism have swayed the Federal Reserve on interest rates – but the pick of the first U.S.-born pope appears to have moved one U.S. central banker.
“The 7th District is unique in its industry composition and is the only Fed district to have produced a pope,” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee boasted on Friday in opening remarks to an event at his regional Fed bank. “The pope was not available, but we are excited to have members from across the 7th district and I’m excited and the Chicago Fed staff are excited to hear about what they’ve been seeing and experiencing on the ground and in the trenches.”
Goolsbee, like the legions of Chicagoans now celebrating the surprise choice of Windy City-born Cardinal Robert Prevost to be the Roman Catholic Church’s pontiff, was quick to jump on the papal meme wagon.
“Da Bulls, Da Bears, Da Bank, Da Pope,” Goolsbee tweeted after the new pope’s election on Thursday, echoing the “Da Bears” catchphrase made famous in “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketches in the 1990s about fans of the city’s NFL team, the Chicago Bears. The Bulls are the city’s NBA franchise.
“Da Bank” was obscure enough, though, that Goolsbee felt obliged to clarify: It’s the Chicago Fed, the 7th of 12 Fed districts that make up the U.S. central bank. Goolsbee has run it since 2023.
As it happens, Goolsbee had been channeling the pope before Thursday’s momentous news. During a recent appearance on Chicago public radio’s “Wait Wait … Don’t tell me!” comedy quiz show, host Peter Sagal asked the Chicago Fed president how the U.S. central bank sets interest rates, “where you meet and everybody stands outside like you are naming a new pope?”
“There’s no pope and there’s no fires,” Goolsbee answered, “but other than that, yes, that’s pretty much how it is.”
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Additional reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)
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