Pope Leo XIV put his baseball fandom on full display Wednesday.
He wore a White Sox hat as he arrived at the Vatican for his weekly general audience.
Leo, a Chicago native previously known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected as the first U.S.-born pontiff on May 8. Since then, his most notable sports allegiance has been unearthed.
Although the Chicago Cubs initially claimed Leo after ABC News reported that he was a rare South Side Cubs fan, Leo’s brother quickly disputed that story in an interview with Chicago’s WGN News.
“He was never, ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan. Our mother was a Cubs fan. I don’t know, maybe that clued in there, and our dad was a Cardinals fan, so I don’t know where that all came from. And all the aunts in our mom’s family were from North Side, so that’s why they were Cubs fans.”
Then the Chicago Sun-Times located a picture of Leo at the 2005 World Series, during which the White Sox swept the Houston Astros for their first championship in 88 years.
Sox on 35th blogger Joe Binder went one step further and actually dug up footage of the now-pope from Game 1 of that series. The camera briefly shows Leo as he nervously awaits the final out, with White Sox closer Bobby Jenks on the bump in a 5-3 win.
The White Sox have been celebrating their most famous fan for more than a month now. Leo gave the Sox another reason to continue that parade Wednesday when he paired the team’s iconic cap with his papal garments.
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