Pope Leo XIV: the sportsman

Will sports help to improve relations between Washington and the Vatican?

Jun 01, 2025

On May 19, 2025, Pope Leo XIV met with two important figures from the current American administration: Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

For several reasons, the meeting that generated the most discussion was the one with the vice president.

Beginning with J.D. Vance's relationship with faith. He converted to Catholicism and was baptised in 2019, choosing Saint Augustine as his patron. Robert Francis Prevost was precisely at the head of the Augustinian order before he became Pope.

At the meeting held in Saint Peter's, Vance presented the Holy Father with a Chicago Bears football jersey as a gift. Chicago is the Pope's hometown, and he is also a devoted fan of the White Sox baseball team.

You don’t believe me?
Have a look at this video.

It was 2005, and that is precisely the Pope.

Immediately after his proclamation, one of the characteristics that attracted attention was Prevost's love for sports. He loves tennis, American football and is a huge fan of Roma.

But why did Vance decide to bring him that jersey as a gift?

What does this first meeting between the Trump administration and the Pope tell us about Washington's relationship with the Vatican?

Photo: White Sox Instagram Account

The love for tennis

As chance would have it, the conclave concluded just as the Internationals were taking place in Rome, which is undoubtedly the most famous and significant Italian tennis tournament. This year, Jasmine Paolini triumphed in the women's singles, while in the men's singles, Alcaraz defeated Sinner in the final.

The Italian visited the Pope, with whom he shares a great love for the racket. The Holy Father defined himself as a "quite amateur tennis player".

"Since leaving Peru I have had few occasions to practice so I am looking forward to getting back on the court. Not that this new job has left me much free time for it so far."

Several statements have been made from the tennis world, most notably those from Tsitsipas and Coco Gauff. The Greek said that he would be very happy to play with the Pope.

"I feel that figures like this can teach something to human beings. ... I feel lucky to have been here when it was announced."

While the American tennis player thought for a moment about following the crowd that was running towards Saint Peter's Square, after the white smoke.

"But I realised with the match the next day it's probably not smart to run like a mile sprinting. Hopefully he watches some women’s tennis. I don’t know if popes go to sporting events ... but maybe he’ll come to a match in the future."

Not just tennis

His love for Roma warmed the hearts of the club fans. But the Pope immediately became the protagonist of a rather curious fact, which happened overseas and concerned his favourite baseball team.

Chicago hosts two baseball teams: the Cubs and the White Sox. Initially, the news had spread that Prevost was a Cubs supporter. The team itself reacted with enthusiasm, congratulating him on X and posting an image of the iconic Wrigley Field scoreboard with the explicit message:
"Hey, Chicago. He’s a Cubs fan".

The truth took less time than expected to come to light. His brother, John Prevost, took care of it, immediately denying in an interview for WGN-TV that he was a Cubs fan.

"He's never been a Cubs fan, so I don't know where that news came from. He's always been a Sox fan."

Adding that the confusion could have arisen from the fact that his mother's family was originally from the North Side of Chicago and rooted for the Cubs.

The White Sox promptly seized the opportunity to celebrate, in turn posting a clip of the brother's interview and an image of the Rate Field scoreboard with the message "Hey Chicago, he’s a Sox fan!".

Photo: White Sox Instagram Account

But the White Sox didn't stop there and reposted the video of Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, in which the then "Father Bob" is seen in the stands. That year, the Sox won their third title, the first since 1917.

A Chicago native, passionate about and a fan of his city's baseball team. What better start of the biography for the first American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

But is it correct to consider Pope Leo XIV American?

The Pope of the Americas

The moment it was announced that the new Pope was American, a whisper was felt in Saint Peter's Square. The crowd reacted immediately, thinking that his election had something to do with the current Trump administration. That somehow the President of the United States had managed to exert his will even in the election of the Pope.

Pope Leo XIV immediately succeeded in dispelling this thought from the minds of the faithful. Leaning out onto the balcony to receive the embrace of the crowd, he spoke in three languages.

Italian: the language of the Church.
Spanish: the idiom spoken in Peru, where he was a missionary.
Latin: the language of prayer.

No words in English, no mention of the United States. The message was strong and clear: my role and my identity as head of the Universal Catholic Church and head of State of Vatican City transcend my nationality of birth.
I am not an "American Pope".

A thought-out and studied choice, far from casual. The main reason concerns his biography, as Prevost has spent the vast majority of his adult life outside the United States, dedicating fundamental decades of his ministry as an Augustinian missionary in Chiclayo, a city on the northern coast of Peru.

Furthermore, the election itself was not interpreted within the conclave as a selection based primarily on his nationality. As U.S. cardinals have made it clear that American identity was not the determining factor in the choice. Cardinal Wilton Gregory stated that the conclave was not seen as a "continuation of the American elections," but rather as the result of a desire to strengthen the Christian faith in the people of God. Even the official Vatican announcement avoided emphasising his U.S. citizenship, presenting him instead as the second Pope from the Americas.

This deliberate positioning, distant from being labelled primarily as an "American Pope," acquires particular weight in the current geopolitical context and the relationship with the United States, especially considering the political climate and the figure of Donald Trump, whose "America First" approach has redefined American international relations.

"It's certainly a problem for Trump because he has taken a very serious position and represents the America that Trump detests, the one that speaks Spanish. Using Spanish and Italian and not English in his first greeting on Thursday evening was a deliberate cruelty on Prevost's part."

Alberto Melloni, Church historian

Leo XIV vs Trump

In the days that preceded Prevost's election, Donald Trump inserted himself into the debate as he usually does, heavy-handedly. Posting an image generated by artificial intelligence that portrayed him as the Pope. A gesture that sparked various controversies.

If he could have, he would have even tried to participate in the conclave. Given that he even tried to overshadow Pope Francis's funeral, with the impromptu peace negotiation with Zelensky, which took place right in the Vatican.

In this context, and despite a certain initial "reluctance" among the cardinals to elect a Pope from the global superpower, the 133 cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel chose not only an American but someone who could, plausibly, act as a counterweight to the impulsive U.S. president.

When the cardinals found unity on a new Pope, the progressives among them were aware that Prevost was a leader who could provide an alternative voice to Trump. While not the driving factor behind the decision, which was guided by more subtle internal considerations, having an American Pope who could serve as a counterweight to Trump's rhetoric was seen as an "added gift" by one of the interviewed cardinals. And, indeed, on paper, Pope Leo XIV seems to place himself in stark opposition to almost everything the U.S. president represents.

While Trump has promoted an "America First" approach characterised by tariffs, imperialist rhetoric, and cuts to foreign aid, Leo XIV is expected to continue the more humane approach to Church leadership that characterised Francis's pontificate, and which had displeased part of the MAGA electorate.

But the issue on which Trump and the new Pope diverge most is that of immigrants. While the president is pursuing policies of mass deportations of undocumented migrants, Leo is "in favor of migrants, refugees, human rights; he stands with the poor."

Cardinal Walter Kasper highlighted how migration was a crucial issue for the cardinals, defining Trump's treatment of migrants "terrible" and noting that Pope Leo, coming from both the United States and Peru, "understands the problem very well."

Already before his election, the then-Cardinal Prevost had shared critical articles on social media regarding the Trump administration's mass deportation plans, a clear signal of his positions on such a sensitive and central issue in American political debate under Trump.

Beyond the internal dynamics of the conclave and the issue of the contrast with the figure of Donald Trump, the impetus behind the choice of Robert Prevost was deeply linked to a broader and more pressing concern for the future of the Catholic Church, both in the United States and globally.

The evangelical schism

The election of a U.S. Pontiff touches upon a crucial global challenge for the future of the Catholic Church: the growing influence of evangelical churches, a phenomenon particularly visible in regions of the world such as Latin America and Africa.

While the Catholic Church has seen a certain erosion of its influence in some areas, evangelical churches have gained ground, often offering forms of spirituality and community perceived as more immediate and relevant. They are greatly expanding their influence. With the peak reached in Brazil, where an evangelical managed to become the head of State, namely Jair Bolsonaro.

This worries Rome, and not a little. The Vatican considers these churches a danger, even capable of causing a schism. On one side, radical progressives, on the other, traditionalists aligned with right-wing positions, who in some cases have come to openly challenge the authority of Pope Francis and to lead to fears of a decisive break with the Holy See.

To summarise what evangelicalism is and in what it differs from Catholicism, I borrow the words of Il Post, an Italian newspaper:

"Evangelicalism does not foresee religious authorities or the necessity of consecrated churches: it is a theological movement within Protestantism (widely predominant in the United States) that focuses on reading the Bible, which should not be interpreted, but considered as the “Word of God” and therefore unquestionable. It rejects every theological superstructure and also contemplates aggressive and verbally violent attitudes towards those seen as opponents. At a political level, many Evangelical Churches focus on opposition to abortion rights, LGBT+ movements, feminism, and generally to drugs, criminalized in all their forms and types of consumption.

Creating a church or a prayer group is simple because a room with some plastic chairs and a microphone can be enough: any faithful person with charisma and will can become a pastor.”

But why are the United States so important to the church in Rome? Because they are the third country by number of Catholics, only behind Mexico and Brazil. And 30% of the contributions come precisely from American faithful. Not losing American faithful is fundamental for the Vatican. And here one understands the importance of choosing a Pope of American nationality.

As Dario Fabbri - one of the most important Italian geopolitical analysts - points out, the message that Prevost will send to the South American and African faithful will be: "Trust me. I am American, I know my country and I know the churches that are emerging in my territory and are trying to influence you. But the true Church is only one, that of Rome.”

The idea is that a Pope coming from the global hegemon, but with profound missionary experience in Latin America, can represent a face of the Roman Church capable of competing for souls in an increasingly crowded spiritual market.

His Americanness, combined with his global experience and his sensitivity towards the poor and migrants, can be presented as proof that the "true" Church, that of Rome, is capable of inculturating itself, of understanding local realities, and of offering strong and universal leadership, in contrast with the often ephemeral or divisive promises of some expressions of evangelicalism.

In summary, the election of an American is seen as fundamental not only to avert schism in the United States, but also to tell both South Americans and Africans, increasingly attracted by evangelical churches, that the universal Catholic Church, with its center in Rome, guided now by a Pontiff who understands both the Americas and their challenges, remains the authentic path.

The future of Washington and the Vatican

The election of Pope Leo XIV immediately aroused negative and vehement reactions among some more radical and pro-Trump factions in the United States, highlighting how his figure is perceived as a direct contrast with the vision of the Trump administration. Figures like Laura Loomer, a far-right political activist and Trump advisor, defined the new Pontiff a "woke Marxist Pope," claiming that he is "anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open borders and a total Marxist like Pope Francis."

Even Steve Bannon, former chief strategist for Trump and an ultra-conservative Catholic, interpreted the election of the first U.S. Pope as an explicit vote against his former boss, calling it "the worst choice for MAGA Catholics" and "an anti-Trump vote by the globalists of the Curia."

These reactions, however extreme, are not unfounded, as Pope Leo's past and current positions indicate a clear divergence with many of the pillars of the Trumpian agenda. The Pope's brother, John Prevost, has explicitly stated that he knows the Pope "is not happy with what is happening with immigration" in the United States and that he "will not stand by," he will not be "the silent one."

But let's return to the beginning of this article and the meeting between J.D. Vance and the Pope. The vice president is not well-regarded by the Pontiff, due to his faith vision.

According to Vance, a Christian should love based on a hierarchy. I quote his words released to Fox News:

“There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”

To put it bluntly, first Americans and then (perhaps) everybody else.
And Prevost commented harshly on these words. Posting on X, and saying:

JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others

This is why the first meeting between the two was so important. Despite the different vision, Vance knows that an American Pope can be a huge asset to use within borders, because he is popular and can be used to advance the "America first" narrative. On the other hand, the Pontiff is well aware of the importance his country plays for the future of the Roman Church and its faithful.

Reality shows us a notable ideological and practical distance between Washington and Rome. The meeting with JD Vance represents a first, timid, attempt at rapprochement by the administration. Symbolic gestures like the gift of books and an American football jersey cannot be enough to smooth out the profound differences on fundamental issues.

A lot is at stake, and it will be fundamental to continue following the relations between Washington and the Vatican. The U.S. deep state continues to use evangelical sects to increase its influence. Rome wants to regain the faithful it has lost because of the latter. Meanwhile, sport, as always, has managed to carve out a little space for itself.

Whether it can play an even more important role, only time will tell us. In the meantime, it has allowed us to start from a detail (a football jersey) , which to many might have seemed superfluous, and analyse the relations between Washington and Rome.