Sydney couple raise the roof with Pope Leo hat trick

SYDNEY (OSV News) — Sydney newlyweds James Lu and Fiona Choi ticked off some unusual items on their Europe vacation list: wedding clothes and shoes along with an Akubra hat and Pope Leo XIV’s estimated head size.

Then they flew to Italy and presented the pontiff with the iconic Australian hat while in Rome for their August vacation. Akubra is thought to derive from an Aboriginal word for head covering.

The couple joined an audience with the pope dressed in their wedding day attire as “sposi novelli” — the newlyweds, and delighted everyone present when they gave him the Aussie staple.

“It was surreal, we weren’t sure if he was going to accept the gift,” Lu told The Catholic Weekly, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

He said it “can’t get more Australian” than the hat they chose, which was made of kangaroo leather and fur felt, with an opal embedded on the side of the hatband.

The couple had seen images of the pope receiving hats before, often baseball caps, and decided to take him an iconic hat all the way from Down Under.

Lu tried to figure out Pope Leo’s hat size by analyzing photos of him and ended up guessing a little bit too small. He now reckons it is probably 58.

“Being the good sport that he is, he put it on and the entire audience hall went up in uproarious applause and cheering,” Lu said.

The couple woke up very early in the morning on Aug. 14 to meet the pope and donned their full wedding outfits including their shoes.

“I think we were one of the few, if not the only, couple there that wore the exact same thing from top to tail,” Lu said.

“It felt nice, it was like getting married again.”

He said despite the pair being nervous about the meeting, Pope Leo made them “really feel at ease.”

“He was very gentle, he had a very kind demeanor,” Lu said.

“He has made it a point that he tries to greet as many people as possible and to give all the newlyweds there the time that he did.”

This story was originally published by The Catholic Weekly, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Sydney, and distributed through a partnership with OSV News. Author Tara Kennedy is a reporter for The Catholic Weekly. OSV News contributed to this report.