No one remembers but Pope Leo XIV appeared in the middle of the 2005 World Series broadcast
Before becoming pontiff, Robert Francis Prevost worked in Chicago, Illinois, as well as Peru.
Everyone has a backstory, and some want those stories told more than others. For Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected head of the Catholic Church, his is a curious one.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Robert Francis Prevost is the 267th pontiff of the Catholic Church and the first American to hold the position. He succeeds Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21, 2025.
He has a bachelor’s in mathematics from Villanova University, a Master of Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and both a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
He was sent to Peru in the 1980s, where he served as parochial vicar of the cathedral and chancellor of the territorial prelature.
He then returned to the United States, and clearly missed one thing: baseball. Prevost, as well as becoming Prior Provincial of the Augustinians in Chicago, also made time to head to the baseball. At the first game of the World Series in 2005, cameras captured two fans looking on nervously as the Chicago White Sox, Pope Leo XIV’s favourite team, went up against the Houston Astros at US Cellular Field.
Your eyes do not deceive you: that is Robert Francis Prevost, on the left, as the camera dips away from the action and focusses on the crowd.
El papa León XIV salió en la transmisión durante el Juego 1 de la Serie Mundial de 2005. pic.twitter.com/BedBL7Ar5v
— ESPN Béisbol ⚾️ (@ESPN_Beisbol) May 10, 2025
The White Sox, at the time of the video, had pulled ahead in the game thanks to strong hitting from Joe Crede, who homered and made key defensive plays. Starter José Contreras pitched solid innings, while the bullpen held off Houston’s late efforts. In the bottom of the eighth, Paul Konerko would add insurance with a big RBI. Despite some pressure in the ninth, Chicago closed it out with a 5–3 victory. The win set the tone for what would become a dominant sweep by the White Sox. No miracles needed.
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