For decades, long-suffering Chicago White Sox fans grumbled that it would take divine intervention for their baseball team to succeed. Now they have the holiest of supporters in their corner: Pope Leo XIV.
Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who on Thursday was elected pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has been a longtime fan of one of his two hometown baseball franchises.
Initially, it appeared that both Chicago teams were claiming Leo as their own, fueling a cross-town beef — until the pope’s brother weighed in.
Photo: Reuters
Speaking to local television station WGN, John Prevost made it abundantly clear where Leo’s sports allegiances lie.
“Yeah, he was never, ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know where that came from,” John Prevost told the station, referring to the other Chicago team in Major League Baseball. “He was always a Sox fan.”
Prevost also revealed some members of the family have been divided in their support.
“Our mother was a Cubs fan ... and our dad was a [St Louis] Cardinals fan, and all the aunts, our mom’s family, was from [the] north side, so that’s why they were fans” of the Cubs, which are headquartered in that part of town,” he said.
The Sox swiftly took to X to capitalize on how the worldwide news touched their team, posting a photograph of a sign at their home stadium, Rate Field, the former Comiskey Park, that reads: “HEY CHICAGO, HE’S A SOX FAN!”
The team added in its post: “Well, would you look at that... Congratulations to Chicago’s own Pope Leo XIV.”
Wrigley Field, longtime home of the Cubs, had posted a nearly identical message on its sign: “HEY CHICAGO, HE’S A CUBS FAN!”
In one respect, Leo is already following in the footsteps of his papal predecessor, Francis, the first Argentine pope, who was known for being a lifelong fan of his beloved local San Lorenzo soccer club in Buenos Aires.
The White Sox won the World Series in 2005, ending an 88-year championship drought.
Separately, it was also reported that Leo is a keen tennis player and a fan of AS Roma soccer club, a senior member of his religious order who has known him for four decades said.
The Vatican’s news outlet has also published a picture of him riding a horse in Peru, where he spent many years as a missionary.
“He’s a regular tennis player. He would come up and play on our grounds once a week at least,” Father Joseph Farrell, Vicar General of the Augustinians, said on Friday from the headquarters of the religious order just off St Peter’s Square.
He confirmed that Leo was a fan of the Eternal City’s biggest soccer club.
“He’s [AS] Roma all the way,” Farrell said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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