The baseball world has been buzzing this week upon the revelation that Robert Prevost (now officially known as Pope Leo XIV) is a White Sox fan. And as the world is finding out, he's pretty serious about the Pale Hose.
It was revealed by the Chicago Sun-Times this week that the new pope was in attendance for Game 1 of the Fall Classic against Houston at then-U.S. Cellular Field on the South Side of Chicago. And as pointed out on X by @SoxOn35th, he even made a brief appearance on the FOX broadcast, as you can see in the clip above.
Back then, Prevost was "Father Bob" to friends and followers like Heidi Skokal, whose father, Ed Schmit, was close friends with Prevost and attended the World Series with him.
Now, you may know Prevost better as Pope Leo XIV. Prevost, elected this week to become the first American pope, is a Chicago native and longtime White Sox fan. He was ordained after studying at Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.
“He’s always been there for our whole entire family and was very, very close to my dad,” Skokal told the Sun-Times. “And my dad told him all the time, ‘Father Bob, you’re going to be the next pope.’”
Upon being named Pope on Thursday, there was a brief debate about whether Prevost was a Cubs or White Sox fan, but that was quickly settled by his brother, who told WGN News that Pope Leo "was always a White Sox fan."
The club honored him with a pregame video tribute on Friday.