Pope Leo XIV receives invite to throw out first pitch at White Sox new stadium

Fox News contributor Howard Kurtz reacts to the pontiff's first formal interview as leader of the Catholic Church and discusses the conclusion of his 12-year run as the host of 'MediaBuzz.'

The minute sports fans found out there was a new American pope and he’d been born in Chicago, every American sports fan had one thought: was he a Cubs or White Sox fan?

Soon, news emerged that he was a White Sox fan — not without a false report, however, that he was a Cubs fan — and shortly thereafter footage emerged that not only was the newly christened Pope Leo XIV a fan, he’d been in the stands for the 2005 World Series, which the White Sox won in a series sweep.

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Justin Ishbia, Ambassador Brian Burch and Clay Travis with an autographed World Series 2005 jersey signed by all the players seen on the left, as Pope Leo XIV is seen on the right. (OutKick; Reuters)

Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, was elected as pope in May of 2025 and then one month later it was announced that my Vanderbilt law school friend and classmate Justin Ishbia was buying the Chicago White Sox.

The two of us were chatting about fun ways Justin could introduce himself to Chicago sports fans and I tossed out an idea — we should travel to the Vatican and invite Pope Leo to throw out the first pitch at a planned new White Sox stadium.

After all, Pope Leo was a big enough White Sox fan that he’d attended the World Series 20 years ago as a fan in the crowd. Sure, he’s the pope now, but deep down he, like all of us, is a diehard sports fan.

We were both convinced the idea was a good one, but it presented a challenge: how do you get a meeting with the pope to invite him to throw out the first pitch?

Pope Leo XIV