Pope Leo keeps mum on his team’s baseball miracle
Chicago White Sox make playoffs after three seasons of epic underperformance
PUBLISHED : 26 Sep 2026 at 17:46
VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo’s beloved Chicago White Sox may have pulled off a miracle this year, making Major League Baseball’s playoffs for the first time since 2021. But the longtime fan of the South Siders won’t reveal if he called on a little help from on high.
“No comment,” Leo told a journalist when asked on Friday if a little papal intervention with God was involved in the team’s second-best standing in the central division of the American League.
But the first US-born pope added, with a smile: “Great things happen in Chicago.”
Leo, born Robert Prevost in America’s second city, is a devoted fan of the Sox. Shortly after he was elected as pope in May 2025, video emerged of Prevost rooting for the team in the 2005 World Series, the last time they won baseball’s top prize.
The White Sox achieved an unprecedented turnaround this year after three consecutive 100-loss seasons, highlighted by a modern-era record of 121 losses in Major League Baseball’s 162-game schedule in 2024.
The pope, undertaking a weekend visit to France, was asked about the team’s 2026 season on his flight from Rome to Paris.
The Sox clinched their playoff berth on Thursday, with a 9-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Vatican officials did not comment on whether anyone had seen a TV on in Leo’s apartment in the apostolic palace that night.
Source – Bangkok News
