- Robert Francis Prevost, who was elected as the new pope, is from Chicago.
- People speculated about whether Pope Leo is a Cubs or White Sox fan.
- Sports commentators bantered about what the new pontiff could do for Chicago sports.
Not long after the white smoke from the Vatican chimney cleared, speculation rose about where the first American and Chicago-born pope’s sports allegiances lie.
A Chicago Cubs post on X congratulating Pope Leo XIV gave people the impression that Robert Francis Prevost rooted for the Cubbies. Turns out the new pope is a South Sider, rooting for the Chicago White Sox.
“He was never, ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know where that came from,” his brother John Prevost told WGN. “He was always a Sox fan.”
The White Sox posted a clip from John Prevost’s WGN interview on X, along with a picture of the Rate Field video board with the message: HEY CHICAGO, HE’S A SOX FAN! The post read “Well, would you look at that... Congratulations to Chicago’s own Pope Leo XIV.”
So that clears that up. But what about other sports?
A graduate of Villanova University near Philadelphia, Prevost retweeted a post celebrating the school’s 2016 men’s basketball national championship. The NCAA wasted no time in alerting everyone on social media to the pope’s Villanova connection.
“Villanova officially has representation in Vatican City,” the post says, along with what appears to be the number 1 with the words “schools with a national championship and a pope.”
But nobody seems to have mentioned Pope Leo as a fan of Notre Dame. Maybe that’s a given.
Being from Chicago, does that make Prevost a fan of the Bears and Bulls? According to Yahoo Sports, he has apparently never tweeted about a Chicago professional sports teams.
On ESPN’s “Get Up” on Friday morning, Michael Wilbon and Brian Windhorst bantered about Pope Leo and how he might help any Chicago sports teams.
“In Chicago, we’re so obsessed. We want to know everything about the Pope. Is he going to bless the Bears?” Wilbon said.
Windhorst retorted, “Forget the Bears. The Bulls on Monday in the lottery. The Bulls on Monday, Cooper Flagg.”
Several memes featuring the new pope appear on social media, including one with him replacing Michael Jordan flying in for a dunk wearing a red cap and red zucchetto, the small skullcap worn by Roman Catholic clergy.