Smiling White Sox fan Pope Leo says 'great things happen in Chicago'

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 pope added, with a smile: "Great things happen in Chicago."

Leo, born as Robert Prevost in America's second city, is a devoted fan of the Sox. Shortly after being 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 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.

Reporting by Joshua McElwee/Reuters