Catholic bishops pray with President Trump

In addition to praying with Trump, topics discussed during the meeting included religious freedom, school choice, religious visas, and life policy.



The view of the White House from the South Lawn with the U.S. flag on April 18, 2026. | Credit: Ivan Ventura/Shutterstock

By Tyler Arnold

October 22, 2026 at 6:52 PM ET · 

Denver Archbishop James Golka and over half a dozen fellow U.S. Catholic bishops met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22.

White House Faith Director Jenny Korn told EWTN News the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office “as part of our ongoing engagement with faith leaders of all denominations from across the country.”

In addition to praying with Trump, Korn said several topics were discussed during the meeting, including “religious freedom, the role of the White House Faith Office, school choice, religious visas, and life policy.”

Participants included Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles; Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa; Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California.

Before concluding the meeting, Golka and his brother bishops gathered around Trump at the Oval Office’s iconic Resolute desk to pray.

Highlights from the 81st annual Al Smith Dinner in NYC

 Highlights from the 81st annual Al Smith Dinner in NYC

FOX 5 New York

Oct 16, 2026
The star-studded gala at the Waldorf Astoria raised millions for Catholic Charities and featured some of NYC's most powerful and influential figures, including Mayor Mamdani, NYPD Commissioner Tisch, Archbishop Hicks, and Cardinal Dolan. FOX 5 NY's Sharon Crowley reports.

‘Mass for Europe’ to be celebrated in Brussels on 15 October

12 October 2026

Invitation

EVENT | ‘Mass for Europe’ to be celebrated in Brussels on 15 October

The public is warmly invited to join the bishops of the European Union for the Mass for Europe, to be celebrated on Thursday, 15 October 2026, at 18:30 at the Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon, Place du Grand Sablon, 1000 Brussels. The celebration is open to everyone and no registration is required. Download Poster

The Mass will take place in the context of the autumn 2026 Assembly of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), to be held in Brussels from 14 to 16 October. The Assembly will bring together the bishops who compose COMECE and represent the episcopal conferences of the EU Member States.

The Mass will be presided over by H.E. Mgr Mariano Crociata, President of COMECE, and concelebrated by the bishops participating in the Assembly. Musical accompaniment will be provided by the Polish choir Domino Cantus.

Source

Trump Touts Pastor’s Support for Hasan Execution Livestream as Pope Objects

Trump Touts Pastor’s Support for Hasan Execution Livestream as Pope Objects


PUBLISHED

OCT 10, 2026 AT 05:27 PM EDT

UPDATED

OCT 11, 2026 AT 09:39 AM EDT

By Steve Mollman

News Editor

President Donald Trump promoted a pastor’s biblical defense of livestreaming Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan’s execution on Saturday, even as the president said he would personally decide whether the controversial broadcast goes ahead.

Trump reposted a report featuring Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas and a longtime Trump ally, who argued that the public execution would demonstrate the sanctity of human life.

The post sharpened a divide among religious leaders after Pope Leo XIV reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to capital punishment and the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops directly condemned the proposed livestream.

It also came as opposition widened among Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans who support executing Hasan but oppose livestreaming it.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment on Saturday.

Source

A Woman Rides the Beast - Dave Hunt - Bible Studies

 

LIVE: Pope Leo visits France

A New Sin: Ecological Sin. Vatican Office Publishes Document Addressing Sins Against Creation

The document, Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Triune God, runs to more than 29,000 words and was developed by a subcommission that worked between 2022 and 2025. Its central argument is clear: the ecological crisis is ultimately inseparable from the crisis of the human person.



(ZENIT News / Rome, 09.02.2026).- The Catholic Church’s ecological teaching has taken a significant step forward with a new document that argues environmental destruction cannot be understood merely as a scientific, political or economic problem. It is also a matter of sin.

In a text published on September 2, the International Theological Commission calls for what it describes as an authentic ecological conversion and proposes a more precise expression for the moral reality involved: a “sin against creation and against the Creator.”

Environmental ethics workshops

The formulation deliberately goes beyond the more familiar expression “ecological sin.” For the commission, the problem is not simply that human beings damage forests, water, air or biodiversity. Environmental abuse also represents a failure to recognize the divine meaning of creation and humanity’s responsibility within it.

The document, Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Triune God, runs to more than 29,000 words and was developed by a subcommission that worked between 2022 and 2025. It was approved by a majority of the commission’s members in July and authorized for publication by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, after being presented to Pope Leo XIV.

Its central argument is clear: the ecological crisis is ultimately inseparable from the crisis of the human person.

The commission traces the present situation to what it calls a “triple transformation” in humanity’s relationship with nature. Over the centuries, the perception of the natural world as God’s creation weakened; an increasingly exploitative form of anthropocentrism emerged; and environmental degradation eventually developed into a crisis of planetary dimensions.

But the document refuses to respond by replacing one extreme with another.

It rejects what it calls “predatory anthropocentrism,” the idea that human beings are absolute masters entitled to exploit everything around them. At the same time, it rejects radical biocentrism and forms of deep ecology that effectively dissolve humanity’s distinctive place within creation.

The Pope’s Letter

Chapter 1
The Pope’s Letter

The Lord’s Day — as Sunday was called from Apostolic Times." Thus commences Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini, issued July 7, 1998. The Pope provides a reference in order to document his initial assertion. His reference is Revelation 1:10. This Scriptural passage states:


I [John] was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

It will be seen that this verse of Scripture, while mentioning the Lord’s Day, does not in any particular indicate which day of the week is the Lord’s Day. One may read the context of the Biblical passage, and he will find no elucidation of the term. Since the term, "the Lord’s Day" occurs nowhere else in Scripture, it will not assist us to seek another reference containing the term "Lord’s Day" in order to enable us to discover the Biblical meaning of the term.

Yet the only safe ground for a sincere student of the Bible is to permit the Bible to interpret itself. God in His goodness has not left this matter in doubt. In clear, unequivocal terms He has revealed to us which day is the Lord’s Day. The New Testament specifies the day which is the Lord’s Day in two passages of Scripture:


For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day (Matthew 12:8).

And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath (Luke 6:5).

Plainly the Sabbath day is the Lord’s Day. The Bible itself has cited this fact. But a new question arises: Which day is the Sabbath? The context of these two texts reveals that the Jews were accusing the disciples of sabbathbreaking in that they rubbed ears of corn in their hands. Clearly the day referred to was the day the Jews identified as the Sabbath.

If we are sincere searchers for Biblical truth, then we must permit the Scripture to identify the day which the Jews hallowed as the Sabbath. Once more the Bible is specific. Jesus was crucified on the day which many Christians designate as Good Friday. The Jews named that day the preparation day. Speaking of the day of Christ’s death, Luke recorded:


And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on (Luke 23:54).

Thus the Sabbath day of the Jews was the day after Friday.

Rep. Chris Smith to chair hearing on imprisoned Catholic democracy advocate Jimmy Lai

The Sept. 16 hearing is timed just ahead of a planned Trump-Xi summit that Catholic advocates say offers another chance to press for the release of Lai, whose faith played a key role in his opposition to Beijing’s crackdown on democracy advocates.

DU
David Uebbing

September 12, 2026

 

People gather in front of the Chinese Consulate General to protest the unjust conviction of media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai on February 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)


Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., will chair a congressional hearing Sept. 16 examining the imprisonment of Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, timed to occur just ahead of a planned Sept. 24 Trump-Xi summit that Catholic advocates have been urging the administration to use as another chance to press for Lai’s release.

Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, will lead the Sept. 16 hearing titled, “A Son and Daughter's Appeal to Xi Jinping to Release Their Dad, Jimmy Lai,” scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building and livestreamed publicly. Planned witnesses include Lai's son, Sebastien Lai, who leads the #FreeJimmyLai campaign; Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation and author of a Lai biography; and a senior China researcher from the Heritage Foundation.

The hearing follows a year of escalating diplomatic appeals. After a May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had personally raised Lai’s case, but that Xi’s response “was not positive.”

"He told me that would be a tough one," Trump said, contrasting it with China's apparent openness to releasing detained pastor Ezra Jin.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers had urged Trump before the trip to press Xi on Lai’s behalf, warning his continued imprisonment risked becoming “an irreversible tragedy.” China ultimately released Jin in July, a move human rights advocate Nina Shea argued in the National Review showed Xi retains full power to free Lai as well, dismissing suggestions that Hong Kong's legal system ties his hands as “laughable.” Shea noted Trump and Xi were due to meet again in September in Washington, giving the President “another shot at freeing Lai.”

The 81st Annual Dinner

The 81st Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner will take place on October 15, 2026, at the Waldorf Astoria New York, 301 Park Ave.

Save the Date & RSVP Card

Thursday, October 15, 2026
New York, NY


The 81st Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner benefiting women and children in need will take place on October 15, 2026, at the Waldorf Astoria New York, 301 Park Ave.

For inquiries, please contact AlSmith.Foundation@archny.org. Thank you.

For media inquiries, please click here.

To view photos of last year's dinner, please click here.

Save the Date & RSVP Card

Since its first dinner in 1946, The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner has raised millions of dollars for New York’s most vulnerable women and children. The Dinner has featured renowned cultural, business, and political figures, including most major party presidential nominees during election years since 1960.

Today, the Dinner stands as a cultural landmark and living memorial to one of New York’s most beloved sons.

Why is JD Vance talking about the Antichrist?

In a podcast episode, the vice president implied that the ‘End Times’ might be near



JD Vance kneels to pray during the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV Photo by Getty Images

By Mira FoxSeptember 4, 2026


Never miss a story! The Forward's daily newsletter gives you the most essential Jewish news you need to start your day. Sign up for Forwarding the News here.

JD Vance said he might be bringing about the End Times, adding that he would not be “shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us.”

Vance was speaking on the Christian YouTube show The Bryce Crawford Podcast about his memoir, Communion, which covers his conversion to Catholicism from Protestantism.

Numerous Catholics online reacted to his statements with confusion and frustration, saying that the ideas about the apocalypse Vance voiced are not central parts of Catholicism. While Catholicism does discuss the idea of the Second Coming, a time in which Christians believe Jesus will return to Earth, the Catholic Church Catechism — the Vatican’s official statements and teachings about the fundamentals of the religion — says that “we are already at ‘the last hour’” ever since Jesus died; the Antichrist is mentioned only briefly as a “a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God,” not as a specific person who will come to the world.

The Antichrist and Armageddon, however, take center stage in many Evangelical churches, where these concepts often drive other extremist ideas, such as labeling politicians the Antichrist — at one point during the Obama administration, a poll found that one in four Americans thought the president might be the Antichrist — as well as Christian Zionism, an attempt to get all Jews to return to Jerusalem to hasten the apocalypse, when many believe Jews will be sent to Hell.

As one snarky Catholic commenter put it, Vance’s apocalypse-heavy discussion of his Catholicism sounded like “three evangelicals in a trench coat.”

It also sounded a lot like Peter Thiel, the billionaire Palantir founder and Vance’s mentor, donor and former employer. Thiel has a famed obsession with the Antichrist; earlier this year, several Catholic institutions distanced themselves from a series of lectures Thiel gave in Rome on the topic. Vance cited Thiel as an influence on his conversion in an essay about why he chose Catholicism, despite the fact that Thiel is not Catholic.

JD Vance: Antichrist may be walking among us

Vice-president tells evangelical YouTuber he ‘wouldn’t be shocked’ if world was living through ‘end times’

JD Vance, the US vice-president, says he is ‘focused on trying to do God’s work’ Credit: Getty Images / Saul Loeb

Verity Bowman

Show biography

Published 03 September 2026 12:34pm BST


JD Vance has claimed that the antichrist may be “walking among us”, and said the world may be living through the “end times”.

The US vice-president made the comments during a podcast interview with Bryce Crawford, 22, an evangelical Christian with more than a million YouTube followers.

While promoting his new book Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, Mr Vance said he was “trying to focus on doing as much of God’s work as possible”.

He said: “Do I think that we’re in the end times? I don’t know. I think that it’s probably bad for me spiritually to focus too much on it. There are things about the world that make me feel not shocked if the antichrist was walking among us.

“I tend to think that while I wouldn’t be shocked if we are living in the end times, what I’m trying to focus on is doing as much of God’s work as possible right now, and that if that leads to the end times, OK.”

The vice-president was speaking to evangelical Christian and YouTube star Bryce Crawford, 22 Credit: YouTube


Literal readings of the “end times” hold that an antichrist will rise to power, turn against God and persecute believers before Jesus returns.

Asked another question on the “end times”, Mr Vance described a friend whose wife had turned to an AI chatbot for counselling, only to realise it agreed with everything she wrote.

JD Vance Felt "Darkness" From These World Leaders

 

Bryce Crawford Podcast 

Aug 31, 2026

00:00:00 Intro 

00:02:41 Does Top Secret Access Convince You the Spiritual World Is Real? 

00:05:36 "I've Been in Meetings With World Leaders and Felt Darkness" 

00:08:07 Was God's Hand in the Butler Assassination Attempt? 

00:10:09 What Would America Look Like if the Shooter Succeeded? 

00:13:40 How the VP and Trump Process Near-Death: Process and Move On 

00:18:00 Why Do Young Christians Walk Away From Their Faith? 

00:24:50 How Vance Went From Devout to Atheist After His Grandmother Died 

00:31:02 King David Was a Murderer - And God Still Used Him 

00:36:00 The Peter Problem: He Saw Jesus Walk on Water and Still Denied Him 

00:39:20 Vance's Temper, His Rough Childhood, and the Fight-or-Flight Instinct 

00:43:11 On Building a Dynasty: Four Kids and What Really Matters Now 

00:45:45 The Moment in a French Church That Brought Him Back to Faith 

00:47:06 "How Confident Are You You're Going to Heaven?" - Vance Answers 

00:51:52 Meeting Pope Francis on Easter - Then He Died the Next Day 

00:56:37 What Does the Vice President Think About the End Times? 

00:59:52 AI Burial Ceremonies, Dark Spiritual Energy, and the Antichrist 

01:02:55 The Trump AI God Photo - Bryce Gets Honest About His Reaction 

01:06:42 When the President Falls for AI Fake News (And So Does His Mom) 

01:10:33 Closing Prayer

 

They're Trying To Unite All Religions… But There's One Problem

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel takes on popes, delves into end-times theology

Peter Thiel speaks with attendees at the 2022 Converge Tech Summit in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

by Brian Fraga

Staff Reporter

July 15, 2026

In the last two weeks, the billionaire venture tech capitalist Peter Thiel has accused Pope Leo XIV of being a Chinese communist agent and insinuated in the pages of a prominent interreligious journal that Pope Francis was an Antichrist figure.

Thiel, a co-founder of Palantir and PayPal who has risen to prominence as a conservative political activist, has articulated an apocalyptic worldview that he says is consistent with traditional Christian theology but that his critics say is more aligned with Cold War-era geopolitics.

His interest in end times theology was even lampooned in the recently completed 28th season of "South Park," where Thiel was portrayed as a biblical prophecy expert, equipped with his own theme song, who speaks on the end of days to an elementary school assembly.

Thiel's stated concerns that the Antichrist will be manifested by a one-world government or by Luddites who aim to stop or slow technological progress was a subtext in several provocative comments he made at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on June 30.

As reported by CNN, Thiel delivered a series of dire warnings and predictions about the future of artificial intelligence and the West, even accusing Pope Leo XIV of inadvertently serving as a "Chinese communist agent" because of the pontiff's calls for AI to be regulated.

According to Thiel's logic, while Leo's recent encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas, may influence American policymakers, it is unlikely that Chinese leaders will heed the document's warnings.

Thiel argued that the encyclical threatens to slow down only one side of the "race between the U.S. and China" to advance AI. Leo, Thiel surmised, is thus "working for the Chinese Communists." CNN reported that the Aspen audience responded with laughter.

While it garnered chuckles, Thiel's comments about Leo revealed a Cold War mentality taken to a new intense level, said Massimo Faggioli, a theologian and church historian at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

The Privilege of White: Why Only Seven Royal Women Are Allowed to Wear This Rare Color Before the Pope

Why some queens wear white and others must keep to black for papal audiences.

Mar 31, 2026 5:37 PM EDT

By Jennifer Mashuga

Key Points

• Most leaders meeting the Pope must wear modest, black attire following strict protocol.
• Only seven Catholic queens or princesses may wear white, via "il privilegio del bianco."
• Eligibility depends on royal status, Catholic tradition, and historical church ties.

When meeting the Pope, there are formal rules that most Presidents, First Ladies, Prime Ministers, and other heads of state follow, whether you’re Catholic or not. One of the most important things to consider for those who have the rare opportunity to meet the supreme pontiff most likely has to do with attire: what do you wear?

For most leaders or representatives, the protocol is simple: conservative, modest, black attire. For women, this is often a dress that falls below the knees and has full-length or three-quarters-length sleeves. A veil or mantilla is also worn. For men, a dark-colored suit and tie are expected. However, for a very small number of women — seven, to be exact — it’s all right to wear white, a color that is typically frowned upon in front of the Pope.

These seven women are Catholic queens and princesses who have been granted il privilegio del bianco (privilege of white), and are allowed to wear long-sleeved white dresses and an optional white veil or mantilla. These royal women include Queen Sofía and Queen Letizia of Spain; Queen Mathilde and Queen Paola of Belgium; Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg; Princess Charlene of Monaco; and Princess Marina of Savoy.

However, being a Catholic queen or princess isn’t enough to be given the rare privilege. They must also be a part of marriages or countries that are traditionally Catholic. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was raised as a Roman Catholic, and remains one to this day. But her husband, King Willem-Alexander, is Protestant, as is his family and their three children. Therefore, she is not allowed to wear white.

Another point that is taken into account is how far back the Queen or Princess’s country’s ties to the Catholic Church go. Spain‘s ties to Catholicism go far back, as do those of Belgium and Luxembourg. Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho and the Princess of Liechtenstein are both Catholic, but have not been granted the honor of wearing white by the Vatican.

On March 28, Pope Leo XIV visited Monaco, and many were quick to point out that Princess Charlene wasn’t the only royal wearing white; 11-year-old Princess Gabriella was, too. While chances are she will also be granted the same privilege as her mother when she’s an adult, for now, it’s just as likely that she was exercising her privilege of being a child.

Source

Bishop Robert Barron & Bill O'Reilly on Religion and Mass Migration

Bill O'Reilly

Premiered Aug 15, 2026

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire, discusses the issues surrounding mass migration.

The Apostle Peter in Rome

Jesus’ chief disciple examined
Nicola Denzey Lewis June 28, 2026 

In this blog post, Brown University Religious Studies professor Nicola Denzey Lewis answers frequently asked questions about the apostle Peter. Denzey Lewis appears in the CNN series Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery, which aims to investigate artifacts that shed light on the world in which Jesus lived.—Ed.

What traditions connect the apostle Peter to Rome?

The Repentant St. Peter by El Greco. Photo: The Phillips Collection.

Jesus’ chief disciple, Peter (also called Simon Peter or Cephas), has been associated with Rome for nearly 2,000 years. The earliest testimony to the apostle Peter’s presence in Rome is a letter from a Christian deacon named Gaius. Writing probably toward the end of the second century C.E.—so, around 170 or 180 C.E.—Gaius tells about the wondrous things in Rome, including something called a tropaion (see below for more) where Peter established a church—in fact, the Church, the Roman Catholic church at the site where St. Peter’s Basilica is today. But there are other traditions besides Peter’s tropaion.

One early Christian text, the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, recounts many things that Peter did in the city. At one point in Acts of Peter, Peter is taunted by a flamboyant heretic, Simon Magus. Simon challenges Peter to a flying contest around the Roman Forum, but Peter’s prayers make Simon crash to the ground, proving that Simon’s powers are not as great as his own.

At the end of this text, Peter, not wishing to be martyred for his faith, flees from Roman authorities on the Via Appia leading out of the city. Rather unexpectedly, Peter meets Jesus, who is traveling in the opposite direction. He asks Jesus, “Where are you going?” Jesus tells Peter that he is going to Rome “to be crucified again.” Peter realizes, from this, that he cannot flee from his fate.

“Where are you going?” in Latin is “Quo Vadis?” and there’s a medieval church in Rome called the Church of Quo Vadis at the spot where Peter met Jesus. To prove that his vision was real, you can still see there a bit of marble pavement which the faithful say miraculously preserve Jesus’ footprints.

Matthew McConaughey Meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican

Matthew McConaughey Meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican

TODAY

Aug 6, 2026

Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves, were greeted by Pope Leo XIV during his weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Basilica. Cameras captured the trio briefly chatting during their time together. 

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Matthew McConaughey Compares Meeting Pope Leo XIV to Writing an Oscars Speech | The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Aug 13, 2026
Matthew McConaughey talks about meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, getting a movie theater named after him and filming his new movie The Rivals of Amziah King.

Pope Leo hat giveaway turns White Sox game into the church of baseball

CHICAGO (RNS) — After three terrible years, the White Sox are in the midst of a revival — with good young players and perhaps a little divine intervention. The team's best-known fan is Pope Leo XIV.

White Sox fans cheer while wearing Pope hats during "Pope Night," Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of the Chicago White Sox)

Bob Smietana

August 12, 2026 at 1:17 p.m. ET

CHICAGO (RNS) — On a hot August night on the South Side of Chicago, Rate Field, home of the White Sox, turned into a church of baseball, filled to capacity with true believers who sang, passed the peace, cheered on a celebrity nun and, of course, wore their pope hats.

Those hats, emblazoned with the Sox logo, were given to every fan who entered the park on Tuesday (Aug. 11). It was, according to team officials, the biggest promotional giveaway in White Sox history, with more than 40,000 pope hats given away. The night was a testimony to the resurgent White Sox, who appear to be playoff-bound after three years of losing 100 games a season, as well as to the appeal of Pope Leo XIV, a longtime fan of the team and Chicago native.

“It doesn’t matter your religion or your denomination,” said Brooks Boyer, chief revenue and marketing officer for the White Sox. “Everyone respects the pope. For us, it’s obviously fun that he is a White Sox fan.”

As soon as the gate opened, the park was flooded with fans, young and old, some with jerseys with the pope’s name on the back, many already wearing their pope hats. They stood in line for hot dogs or beers, where some greeted Sister Mary Jo Sobieck of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, who was grabbing a hot dog before throwing out the first pitch.

Jaime Garcia and his wife were decked out in Sox garb and their new pope hats. Garcia, who is from the Back of the Yards neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side, grew up both Catholic and a Sox fan. He got off work early to get to the game.

Jaime Garcia attends the White Sox’s “Pope Night,” Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, in Chicago. (RNS photo/Bob Smietana)

“Got to get the hat,” he said. “Got to represent.”