A Silver Spring family was behind the baby Pope costume that gave President Barack Obama a hearty laugh during a Halloween event at the White House and later became an Internet sensation.
Laura Baptiste and Brian Kildee’s daughter, Rosalia, wore the costume, which consisted of miniature white papal vestments complete with a mitre and bright red shoes, and rode in a white push buggy complete with mini Vatican flags that resembled the Popemobile.
Creating the costume was a family effort involving her parents and grandmothers, said the parents, who shared their story with Bethesda Beat in an email.
“The costume is all Brian’s doing,” Laura Baptiste said. “I married a visionary.”
“I believe that, if you want to be really good at embarrassing your daughter during those all-important teenage years, you need to start early,” Brian Kildee said. “Rosalia and I have matching bowling shirts, matching Hawaiian shirts and matching lederhosen. I’m shopping right now for matching ugly sweaters. I want her first word to be ‘daddy.’ And when she says it, I want her to roll her eyes—just like her mom does.”
The parents enlisted the help of Rosalia’s grandmothers, Dolly and Pat. Dolly Kildee made the vestments. She said she modified a bunny outfit and cut out freezer paper to make the hat. Pat had given Rosalia the red shoes for Christmas.
"Rosalia generally gets into holidays," Laura said. "We gave her bunny ears for Easter, which she also thought was fun. She’s a good sport."
The Popemobile is a painted children’s buggy with a Fiat emblem attached. The family got the little Vatican flags from Brian Kildee’s hairdresser.
“I found the push buggy on Craigslist about three weeks before Halloween,” Brian Kildee recalls. “You need to hop on the push buggies quick—they go fast. We met the seller in the parking lot of Stone Mill Elementary School after dark on a Tuesday night. It was kind of comical.”
To really bring the look together, he and a couple friends dressed as Secret Service agents, in black suits and sunglasses.
With the costume ready, the group headed to the White House, which President Obama had opened to families Oct. 30, the day before Halloween. During the event, Obama noticed Rosalia in her outfit. He let out a big laugh, then called First Lady Michelle Obama over, who gave a nod of approval, which was captured on video and in photos.
Top prize goes to Lil' Pope. #HappyHalloween https://t.co/WJo1nYUWup
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 30, 2015
“President Obama kept saying, ‘That’s rockin’!’ “ Laura remembered. “He and Mrs. Obama were disarmingly down to earth. We’ve heard that they were the first First Couple to open up the White House for Halloween, which is great—a sign of their belief in making it the people’s house.”
The family’s moment with the Obamas would later go viral on news websites including Buzzfeed—where the story got more than 1.7 million pageviews. The family says they’ve been amazed by the attention it received.
“It’s been kind of unbelievable,” Laura Baptiste said. “My cousin emailed us today to say that her friend in Rome had posted Baby Pope on Facebook—maybe Pope Francis has seen Baby Pope! We’ve heard from friends from Anchorage to Australia that they’ve seen her on the morning news. It was not planned, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
Photo above via White House Facebook page.
