Pope Leo jokes he won't take sides as Villanova and Notre Dame meet in Rome
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAPope Leo XIV welcomed his old college basketball team — and their rivals — to the Vatican on Saturday, October 31, and joked that his new job requires a neutrality his old loyalties might not share.
Leo, the first American pope, greeted the men's and women's teams from his alma mater Villanova, where he graduated in 1977, and from Notre Dame, before roughly 7,000 players, guests and supporters in the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall, Reuters reported.
"Growing up on the south side of Chicago, we oftentimes heard, 'Go Irish.' But as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova," Leo said, referring to himself by his birth name, Robert Prevost.
"So the Pope doesn't take sides. Prevost has another opinion, but we won't do that now," he added, to cheers and laughter from the audience.
Villanova, home of the Wildcats, is in Pennsylvania, while Notre Dame, whose teams are known as the Fighting Irish, is in Indiana — but has strong support in the part of Chicago where the pope was raised, Reuters noted.
The two Catholic universities will settle matters on the court on Sunday, when their men's and women's teams face off at Rome's Palazzo dello Sport in the Eternal City Tip-Off, opening the U.S. college basketball season. USA Today reported the men's game is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by the women's game at noon ET.
Turning more serious, Leo acknowledged the natural urge to cheer, often passionately, for one's own side — but reminded the crowd that rival teams "are certainly not enemies."
For Notre Dame, Reuters noted, the challenge on Sunday is obvious: beating a team whose most famous alumnus has a direct line to heaven. Villanova, meanwhile, may have found the ultimate sixth man.
Sources: Reuters (Oct 31, 2026), by Gavin Jones and Yesim Dikmen; USA Today (Oct 31, 2026).
Sponsored