Rate Field has been the scene of a fierce crosstown Chicago rivalry over the years. But on Saturday, the home of the White Sox baseball club was transformed into a site of intra-city brotherly love, where even Chicago Cubs fans felt at home.

The immediate cause for unity? A celebration of Pope Leo XIV, the South Side native and the first-ever U.S.-born Pope.

Thousands of Catholics from Chicago and beyond came out to the old ballpark to root, root, root for the home(town) pope, who grew up a 16-minute drive from the stadium in Dolton, Illinois , and is a lifelong White Sox fan. The afternoon featured Pope Leo’s first-ever address to his home nation via video message, songs and stories celebrating his historic May 8 election, and a culminating Mass celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago.

At the stadium, White Sox fans donned in the teams’ classic black and white mingled with attendees clad in the blue and red of the rival Cubs. The camaraderie on display went far beyond sports, however, as attendees from seemingly every race, age and language group gathered to celebrate the American pope and worship God at Mass.

The afternoon’s festivities presented a powerful image of the universality of the Catholic Church and the unity being fostered by Pope Leo — and contrasted starkly with the deep divisions plaguing the new Pope’s homeland.

Long beset by political polarization, discord in the United States took an even darker turn earlier that day in Minnesota, when Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the state house, and her husband, were shot dead in what police said was a politically motivated murder. Later that day, political divisions in America were put on stark display, as “No King” protests against President Donald Trump took place throughout the country while the president presided at a military parade celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday in Washington, D.C.

The political and social divides dominating American life make clear the challenges facing Pope Leo’s bid for peace and unity.

But Father Ed Shea, a Franciscan friar based in Gary, Indiana, thinks that the American Pope and his message of hope and cherishing the human dignity of others has the potential to be a guiding light amid the present darkness.

“We can rally around this Pope,” said Father Shea, a lifelong White Sox fan who wore a #14 jersey with “Pope Leo” emblazoned on the back.

And as the Pope himself made clear in the eight-minute video message that played on the jumbotron in center field, he’s just the vicar, not the source, of that light.

“As we grow in our unity, as we come together in communion, we can discover that that light will grow brighter and brighter,” he said. “That light which is indeed our faith in Jesus Christ.”

Allen Castaneda, 59, of Homer Glen, Illinois, predicted that Pope Leo, as both an American and the earthly head of the universal Catholic Church, will play a role in “bringing everyone together as a family.”

“It’s going to be really good for our country,” he said. “It’s going to be a game-changer.”


A big part of Pope Leo’s unifying potential in his home country comes down to one thing: his relatability.

“He’s one of us,” said Jennifer Arreola, 48, of nearby Lansing, Illinois, who came to the stadium with miniature American flags adorned with an image of Pope Leo. “This is so exciting to have a pope that is literally one of us.”

The Chicago native’s White Sox fandom has emerged as a powerful symbol of his “everyday American” aura. The Pope set both Catholics and baseball fans in a tizzy a week ago when he was given, and then donned, a White Sox ball cap in St. Peter’s Square following an audience with newlyweds. And in the days after he was first elected pope, video footage from Game 1 of the 2005 World Series showing then-Father Robert Prevost nervously cheering for his club in their home stadium became an internet sensation.

After the viral video, the White Sox quickly put up a graphic of Pope Leo at the entrance of the section the future pope had sat in for that World Series game. In the hours before the June 14 Mass at Rate Field, it was easily the most popular spot in the stadium, with fans of the pope —and/or the White Sox — forming a long line as they waited to have their photo snapped in front of his likeness.

Father Alex Lorang, a priest of the Diocese of Joliet who concelebrated the Mass at Rate Field, noted Pope Leo’s baseball fandom isn’t just a quirky bit of cultural trivia. Given the unique capacity of sports to connect people who otherwise might have much in common, he thinks it could be a contributing factor in the Pope’s evangelistic outreach.

“For the Pope of all people to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m a Sox fan, I’ve been to games’ — there’s something about that that now people will listen to that they wouldn’t have otherwise,” said Father Lorang, who serves as parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Naperville, Illinois.

A Friendly Rivalry

At the very least, people seem proud to show-off their connection with the South Side Pope. White Sox jerseys with the number “14” and “Pope Leo” or even “Da Pope” emblazoned on the back were a common sight among the crowd at Rate field.

Creative, custom-designed t-shirts — such as one showing the pope eating a hot dog and drinking a beer, or another with an outline of the state of Illinois filled in with the Vatican’s flag — were popular, too.

Some attendees, like Veronica Herr, believe that Pope Leo’s White Sox fandom isn’t just a product of his South Side upbringing. The 49-year-old Catholic school teacher from Normal, Illinois, suggested that being a fan of the team, which has long been associated with Chicago’s working class and set the league record for most losses in a season last year, is downright Christ-like.

“Jesus wouldn’t be part of the winning team, I don’t think. He’d be with the lowly and the humble, and here we are,” Herr said, as she gestured toward the White Sox’ stadium behind her.

Father Felipe Vaglienty, who was wearing a White Sox cap to go along with his black clerical attire before getting ready for Mass, acknowledged that his team might “not win very often.”

But now, as the associate pastor of Most Blessed Trinity parish in Waukegan, Illinois, pointed out, they’ve got the pope.

Cubs fans at the stadium like Gerado Hernandez didn’t seem too troubled by the development. The 45-year-old from Berwyn, Illinois, thought the White Sox fan’s ascendancy to the papacy “might give them a blessing to get some much-needed wins.”

And he certainly wasn’t going to let the Pope’s association with the crosstown rivals keep him from coming to the big celebration at Rate Field.

“Everyone is a child of our God, and we are just blessed to all be gathered here today, regardless of what team we’re rooting for,” said Hernandez.

Elisha Valladares-Cormier, a Yankees fan who drove with his family all the way from Sandusky, Ohio, to attend the Rate Field event, joked that he “felt a little bit sorry” for Pope Leo when he found out the Holy Father was a White Sox fan.

But Valladares-Cormier, who is the senior editor of the Knights of Columbus magazine, suggested that the Pope’s love of baseball was a “little bond” with millions of other American Catholics, which could help inspire others to also pursue a life of holiness.

“So many of them are going to know that Pope Leo was a little boy just like them, who went to recess, did his homework, and played baseball on the sandlot, and then discovered his vocation and is now Pope,” said Valladares-Cormier. “Now, they’ll look to his as an example to follow.”

Unity In Christ

The well-attended and diverse celebration at Rate Field was a fitting tribute to Pope Leo, who has made unity — both in the Church and in the world — the overriding priority of his pontificate thus far.

Inside and around the stadium. unity was on display in a variety of ways. Different cultural groups, including mostly black members of the Chicago-based Leo High School choir and predominantly Latino members of the Neocatechumenal Way, provided musical celebrations of the new Pope. Brother David Marshall, an Augustinian, performed a tri-lingual piano tribute to Pope Leo called “One of Us,” incorporating the Spanish the Chicago-born pontiff spoke as a longtime missionary in Peru, and also Latin phrases like the Pope’s episcopal motto: In Illo Uno Unum, meaning “In the One [Christ] We Are One.”

Cardinal Cupich, who joked that he’d remember his on-field homily as “the sermon on the mound,” underscored that unity means respecting the dignity of all people.

“Humanity is greatly diminished whenever the unborn or the undocumented, the unemployed, or the unhealthy are excluded, uninvited and unwelcome,” said the Chicago cardinal, who was the main organizer of the event.

In his video message, Pope Leo expressed his gratitude to those in Chicago who had gathered to celebrate him. And yet he constantly rallied the crowd not around himself, but around God.

The Pope began his address by noting that God’s Triune life, which would be celebrated just moments later at the Mass for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, is the model and source for all human communion and unity.

And the Pope also made clear that Christian community is not meant to be self-referential or confided to intra-Catholic celebrations. Instead, he stressed that it must overcome “egotistical ways” in the form of genuine love and service for others.

“God in his own generosity continues to pour out his love upon us,” Pope Leo said. “And as he gives us his love, he only asks us to be generous and to share what he has given us with others.”

Maria Rosales, a big White Sox fan who tailgated with her friends and family in the parking lot before the Pope Leo celebration, said that she hopes the first American Pope brings more people together — and more people to God.

“We need God in our lives, we need God in our government, we need God in our schools,” she said. “And I hope that the Pope can help with that.”

Donna Sagna, who lives next door to the house Pope Leo XIV grew up in and was at the Mass, said the Chicago-born Pope is already making a difference back in Dolton. The city has long-suffered from violence and crime, but she says the Pope’s childhood home has become a daily place of prayer and unity.

“There’s praying in our community, stuff I’ve never seen before,” said Sagna, who is new to Catholicism and said that Pope Leo XIV has inspired her to evangelize. “It’s totally a miracle.”

For lifelong Sox fans like the Franciscan friar Father Shea, that experience of unity at Rate Field made the visit to the ballpark unlike any he’s had before — including attending Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, when the legendary Paul Konkero, who also wore #14, hit a game-sealing grand slam.

“I’ve been to this stadium hundreds of times, all great events,” said Father Shea. “This is the best of all those — ever.”

And the Franciscan expressed his hope that the Pope’s message would spur Catholics to take relationships seriously, counteracting the “vitriolic energy” dominating American life and resulting in both liberals and conservatives “hating each other and not wanting to listen to each other.”

“My hope is that people’s hearts will be softened” by Pope Leo, said Father Shea. “We need new hearts.”