Pope Leo XIV was asked whether he had anything to do with the White Sox making the 2026 playoffs, and he didn't deny it. He didn't confirm it, didn't deny it, and skipped the sermon about how baseball outcomes don't work like that. Just a coy little nothing that leaves the door open. He's in on the joke, and he's playing it better than anyone in Chicago.
He's a White Sox fan and a Chicago native who wore the team's hat at a Vatican appearance, got his own "Pope Hat" giveaway night at Rate Field, and, when the Cubs' season ended against the Brewers, found time to rib a Cubs fan. He said "great things happen in Chicago" about his club reaching October. He's been running this bit all year.
So when the divine-intervention question came, he had two bad options and one good one. He could've claimed the miracle, which would've been ridiculous. He could've lectured everyone that faith isn't for rally caps, which would've been a buzzkill from a guy who wears one. Instead he gave the answer that keeps the whole thing alive without pretending to move a single ground ball. It's what someone who actually knows how to be a fan does.
Nobody thinks the Pope reached down and fixed a pennant chase, and the fans who ran with the joke know it too. The joke only works because everyone agrees it's a joke. The second the Pope treats it seriously in either direction, it dies. He knows that. He let it breathe.
I can't stand the impulse to demand a straight answer from a straight-faced tease. Some people wanted him to shut it down so faith wouldn't turn into a punchline about baseball superstition. Relax. A guy can love his team and love his church without one messing with the other, and Leo's whole run this year shows he can hold both at once. The hat, the giveaway, the Cubs chirp, the shrug all point to a fan comfortable enough to laugh.
The grumps who want the Pope to be above all this are missing the best story baseball has right now. The most famous White Sox fan alive got asked if he's responsible for the good times and refused to rule himself out. Give him the first pitch if it ever comes to that. He's earned the bit.
