With the election of American cardinal Robert Prevost as the brand new pope, the Metropolis of Chicago is abuzz with Pope Leo XIV being one among their very own. 

Lengthy earlier than being elected because the 267th pope and chief of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV — the primary pope from america — was born in Chicago, and town’s two Main League Baseball groups are attempting to settle precisely who now has the rooting pursuits of the complete Catholic Church behind them.

On Thursday afternoon — working with a declare by an ABC Information reporter — the Chicago Cubs boasted that Pope Leo XIV was a fan of theirs, with their well-known signage outdoors Wrigley Subject telling the locals the excellent news: “Hey, Chicago. He is a Cubs fan!”

Nevertheless, these claims would rapidly be contradicted by John Prevost, Pope Leo XIV’s brother, who instructed WGN TV that he was really a White Sox fan and that any report about supporting the Cubs was incorrect. In accordance with his brother, the household of the pope’s mom had been from the north facet of Chicago, which had made them Cubs followers. His father, in the meantime, had been a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals

“He was by no means, ever a Cubs fan,” John Prevost stated. “So I do not know the place that got here from. He was at all times a Sox fan.”

The White Sox, after all, had been extremely happy by this clarification. 

The Vatican stated that Pope Leo XIV was ordained a priest in Chicago in 1982, having studied and acquired his Grasp’s diploma on the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park. After dwelling in Peru for a few years, first as a missionary after which as Archbishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Pope Leo XIV returned to Chicago in 1999 to grow to be Provincial and Prior Common of the Augustinian Province. He would additionally function instructor of the professed and provincial vicar, instructing at Mendel Catholic Excessive Faculty in Chicago and Tolentine School in Olympia Fields, Illinois.

The brand new pope’s obvious White Sox fandom marks the most recent chapter in an fascinating historical past between the sport of baseball and the Catholic Church. A number of popes have held Mass at MLB stadiums, with Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Candlestick Park, Camden Yards and Nationals Park among the many parks which have welcomed His Holiness via the years.