The White Sox will honor Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope and a Chicago native, with a special hat for fans this coming August.
Fans who purchase special tickets to the White Sox’s August 11 game against the Reds will receive a “White Sox-themed pope hat in honor of Chicago native and White Sox fan, Pope Leo XIV,” per the New York Post.
“Fans looking to land one of the black and green hats with a White Sox logo in the middle will need to purchase a ticket in one of five designated sections at Rate Field, otherwise they’ll need to say a prayer to get their hands on one,” it said.
Upon the election of Pope Leo XIV, birth name Robert Francis Prevost, speculation swirled about whether he was a Chicago Cubs fan or a White Sox fan, with both teams looking to claim the newly minted Holy Father as one of their own. His brother, John Prevost, put the controversy to rest when he told WGN-TV that he was “always” a White Sox fan.
“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,” his brother John told WGN-TV in May 2025.
Photos even showed the Holy Father attending the 2005 World Series in which the White Sox swept the Houston Astros over four games. Despite becoming pope, his love for his hometown team has never wavered.
“He wore a White Sox cap at the Vatican last summer and playfully ribbed a Cubs fan by yelling ‘they lost’ when a Cubs fan yelled ‘Go Cubs’ at him,” noted the NY Post. “And just last month, a fan who yelled ‘God bless the White Sox’ while he drove by received a thumbs-up from Leo.”
While the Chicago White Sox might be the pope’s favorite team, a wild internet theory went viral this past football season, suggesting the Seattle Seahawks may have some sacred connection to the papacy.
The theory arose during the 2025 NFL playoffs, when the Seattle Seahawks inched closer to the NFC Championship Game, and fans began to notice a bizarre, historic trend: the team’s Super Bowl appearances in the 21st Century seemed to coincide with the election of a new pope.
“So far this millennium, every time a new pope has been elected, the Seahawks have made it to the Super Bowl,” Fox 13 noted. “In 2005, with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Seahawks made it to Super Bowl XL, losing to the Steelers.”
“In 2013, with the election of Pope Francis, the Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII,” it added. “This year, Pope Leo XIV was elected.”
The theory took on a whole new level of meaning this past Super Bowl when the Seahawks went on to defeat the New England Patriots handily.