
Pope Leo XIV’s Baseball Legacy: From White Sox Fan to Vatican Honoree
Pope Leo XIV, a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, has received numerous sports‑related gifts since his election, and the team plans to honor him at an August game.
Jun 25, 2026
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Pope Leo XIV, a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, has received numerous sports‑related gifts since his election, and the team plans to honor him at an August game.

A recent gift of a baseball from the final out of Game 1 of the 2005 World Series has highlighted Pope Leo XIV’s deep connection to Chicago’s sports heritage, a bond that has produced a series of unique memorabilia since his election.
In 2005, a young Robert Francis Prevost watched the Chicago White Sox clinch their first World Series in 88 years. Decades later, as Pope Leo XIV, he holds a memento from that night — a baseball gifted by former catcher A.J. Pierzynski.