When white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel on May 8, signaling the election of the first United States-born pope, some Chicagoans didn’t just celebrate the ecclesiastical milestone—they got busy fact-checking his baseball allegiances.
Initial rumors suggested that Robert Prevost—formerly known on the South Side as “Father Bob,” and now as Pope Leo XIV—might be a Cubs fan. Photographic evidence to the contrary has since surfaced: A now-viral screenshot from Game 1 of the 2005 World Series showed the now-Pope in White Sox gear, sitting alongside his longtime friend Ed Schmit, a lifelong Sox fan and season-ticket holder, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The image was captured during the top of the ninth inning, just before Bobby Jenks closed out a 5–3 win against the Astros. Leo, Schmit, and Schmit’s son and grandson, are visible from their seats near Section 140. The White Sox would go on to sweep the series.
Nearly 20 years later, that moment—and the unlikely papal cameo—was immortalized with a new mural at Rate Field. Located down the third-base line on the concourse wall near Section 140, the artwork features Pope Leo XIV in his regalia, hands raised in a gesture that could be prayer, blessing, or just divine fandom. Above him: that very screenshot from the 2005 Fox broadcast.
But the mural is both a nod to the 2005 event, and a tribute to Ed Schmit, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2020. In his final months, Schmit told Leo—then still a bishop in Peru—that he was certain “Father Bob” would become Pope one day. “I might not be here to see it, but I’ll definitely be looking down,” his daughter Heidi recalled.
Heidi was among the dozen of Schmit’s family members at the mural unveiling, many of whom still hold those season tickets. “We have proof,” said Ed Schmit IV, of the Pope’s baseball allegiance. “He was at Game 1 of the World Series, and everyone knows now.”
The White Sox, for their part, have embraced their hometown Supreme Pontiff. The team’s chief marketing officer, Brooks Boyer, said the Pope now has an open invitation to return to the ballpark—no advance notice necessary. “He has an open invite to throw out a first pitch,” Boyer told MLB.com. “Heck, maybe we’ll let him get an at-bat.”
