The sports activities loyalties of Pope Leo XIV turned a subject of dialog nearly as quickly because the white smoke emerged from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
Elected on Thursday, Robert Prevost is the primary pope from the US within the historical past of the Catholic Church. The Chicago-born missionary, who took the identify Leo XIV, additionally attended Villanova University close to Philadelphia, the place he acquired a Bachelor of Science in 1977.
Chicago’s two baseball groups had been entrance and middle as sports activities followers reacted to the information.
It was initially reported that the brand new pope was a Cubs fan. The group congratulated Pope Leo XIV in a publish on X that had an image of Wrigley Area’s iconic marquee with the message: HEY, CHICAGO. HE’S A CUBS FAN!
However his brother, John Prevost, set the document straight in an interview with WGN-TV. The pope is a White Sox fan.
“He was by no means ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know the place that got here from. He was all the time a Sox fan,” John mentioned, including that the confusion would possibly stem from the actual fact their mom’s aspect of the household had been North Siders and Cubs followers.
The White Sox posted a clip from the brother’s WGN interview on X, together with an image of the Charge Area videoboard with the message: HEY CHICAGO, HE’S A SOX FAN! The publish learn “Properly, would you have a look at that… Congratulations to Chicago’s personal Pope Leo XIV.”
“Household all the time is aware of finest, and it appears like Pope Leo XIV’s lifelong fandom falls just a little nearer to thirty fifth and Shields,” the White Sox mentioned in a media assertion. “Some issues are larger than baseball, and on this case, we’re glad to have a White Sox fan represented on the Vatican. A pinstripes White Sox jersey together with his identify on it and a hat already are on the best way to Rome, and naturally, the Pontiff all the time is welcome at his ballpark.”
The TV interview had White Sox followers questioning concerning the pope’s means to persuade proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf to promote the last-place group.
Lengthy-suffering Bears followers weighed in, too.
One remarked on X that Chicago developed a pope earlier than the Bears developed a quarterback. One other mentioned the Bears now have a direct line to God. And one other mentioned the Bears now not will probably be on the fallacious aspect of Hail Marys, a reference to Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels’ 52-yard Hail Mary completion to Noah Brown to beat the Bears in October.
“Daaaaaa Pope,” Bears quarterback Caleb Williams posted on X on Thursday night time.
The election of the brand new pope coincides with a trio of former Villanova gamers main the New York Knicks on an NBA playoff run. It didn’t take lengthy for a photoshopped image of the 4 of them collectively to point out up on social media.
The Knicks erased 20-point deficits in profitable Video games 1 and a pair of in opposition to the defending champion Boston Celtics within the Japanese Convention semifinals.
Now followers are praying the mixture of the Villanova guys and the brand new pope will help the group to its first NBA title since 1973.
