Pope Leo XIV graciously accepts, however would not put on, Philadelphia Eagles hat as Philly archbishop visits Vatican

Pope Leo XIV graciously accepted a gifted Philadelphia Eagles hat as a delegation from the Metropolis of Brotherly Love met him on the Vatican on Wednesday morning.

His Holiness, who reps Chicago, hallowed be the White Sox, is seen smiling and shaking fingers with Philly Archbishop Nelson Pérez and Bishop John McIntyre.

A livestream from the Vatican reveals Pope Leo accepting the hat and shaking fingers with Pérez earlier than handing the cap off to another person.

“I used to be blessed with the chance to greet him and current him with the Philadelphia Eagles Tremendous Bowl cap (Go Birds!!!),” Pérez mentioned in a publish on Fb, together with an eagle emoji. “This was a profoundly joyful encounter with the Holy Father together with hundreds of Pilgrims from everywhere in the world.”‘

Pérez and McIntyre are visiting the Vatican with a number of younger folks and the church’s Workplace for Ministry with Younger Adults because the church observes the 2025 Jubilee of Younger Folks.  The group departed Philly for Rome on July 26.

Archbishop Nelson Perez shares story of assembly Pope Leo XIV

Pérez and McIntyre met Pope Leo following his weekly viewers in St. Peter’s Sq.. Then Pérez handed him the hat and shook fingers with the pope.

“He was actually crammed with pleasure, and congratulated Philly, the Eagles on successful the Tremendous Bowl. That is nice, that is the primary pope in historical past that is aware of what a Wawa is, is aware of cheesesteaks, and now could be holding in his hand an Eagles cap, how nice is that?”

You possibly can watch the complete interview with Jim Donovan and Janelle Burrell within the video above.

Pope Leo XIV’s Philadelphia-area previous

The first American Pope, Leo XIV — born in Chicago as Robert Prevost — does have some ties to the Philly space. He attended Villanova College as an undergraduate, incomes a level in arithmetic in 1977. One summer season, he labored on the grounds crew at St. Denis Parish in Havertown, Pennsylvania.

And a pal of his beforehand advised CBS Information Philadelphia that this can be a pope who has been to Wawa.

“He was very comfortable when the Eagles gained the Tremendous Bowl. He rejoiced with these of us from Philly,” Augustinian Father Joe Farrell mentioned.

Farrell mentioned he didn’t hear the Holy Father say “Go Birds” at any level through the Tremendous Bowl.

Nevertheless, it is clear Pope Leo reps the Windy Metropolis at the beginning. 

Minutes after the Sistine Chapel’s chimney produced white smoke and he emerged in St. Peter’s Sq., savvy social media customers tracked down photos of Pope Leo attending Recreation 1 of the 2005 World Sequence between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros. 

The White Sox have since dedicated to putting in a commemorative paintings within the seat the place the longer term pope watched the Sox win.

Then in June, a few Crimson Sox followers from Massachusetts gave Pope Leo a White Sox hat that he broke Vatican protocol to placed on.

He additionally donned a Villanova baseball cap when members of the Nationwide Italian American Basis visited the Vatican and gave him the hat in early June.