Skip to main content
Join Now

Pope Leo XIV's brother confirms Chicago White Sox fandom despite Cubs reports

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•05/08/25•

NickSchultz_7

Chicago Cubs SS Dansby Swanson and Chicago White Sox 1B Andrew Vaughn
© David Banks-Imagn Images

When it came out Pope Leo XIV was from Chicago, the most pressing question – other than deep dish or tavern style pizza – was about his baseball team. Was he a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan?

ABC News initially reported the new pope cheered for the Cubs. However, his brother told WGN-TV that’s not the case. He’s a Southsider through and through.

Pope Leo XIV’s brother, John Prevost, admitted their house was split between the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals growing up. However, even though there were reports and rumors suggesting the opposite, his brother has always been a White Sox fan.

“He was never, ever a Cubs fan,” Prevost said. “So I don’t know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan. Our mother was a Cubs fan. Maybe that clued in there. And our dad was a Cardinal fan. So I don’t know where that all came from.

“And all the aunts, our mom’s family, was from the Northside. So that’s why they were Cubs fans. … But where it came from, I don’t know, because he would’ve been the only one.”

White smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney shortly after Noon ET Thursday, signaling a pope was selected during this week’s conclave. About an hour later, Pope Leo XIV – formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost – was announced as the next pope following Pope Francis’ death last month.

Pope Leo XIV marks the first-ever American pope and, therefore, the first from Chicago. But as people started wondering about his baseball fandom, ABC News reported the new pope cheered for the Cubs despite being raised on the Southside.

“A couple of things. Pope Leo XIV was born on the Southside of Chicago,” ABC News’ Terry Moran said after the announcement. “If Linsey [Davis’] reporting is true – and I trust it is – he is a Cubs fan on the Southside. That tells me one thing: He’s tough, because it is not easy to be a Cubs fan on the Southside of Chicago.”

Before John Prevost’s interview with WGN, the Cubs took a victory lap after hearing the reports Pope Leo XIV was apparently one of their own. They celebrated on the iconic Wrigley Field marquee, declaring “He’s a Cubs fan!” Owner Tom Ricketts also invited him to a game and sing the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, he said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune.