VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is set to hold a private audience on Saturday with basketball teams from his alma mater, Villanova, and fellow Catholic university Notre Dame, plus thousands of traveling American fans in town for the season opener.
A total of about 7,000 people streamed in Saturday to the Paul VI audience hall inside the Vatican after a special private Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The audience precedes the U.S. college basketball season opener in Rome on Sunday. The Villanova and Notre Dame men’s and women’s teams will play a doubleheader at the 11,000-seat Palazzo dello Sport — which is located about a half-hour drive from the Vatican.
The event has been dubbed the Eternal City Tip-Off and was created to honor the first American pope.
Leo graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Villanova, the Augustinian school near Philadelphia. He was born in Chicago — not all that far from Notre Dame, which is located in South Bend, Indiana.
Like popes before him, Leo has praised the value of sport for both physical and spiritual development, calling sport a “school of fraternity” that nurtures friendship, respect and teamwork.
“May those who play, train or cheer discover in sport a universal language that brings cultures together, unites peoples and sows respect, solidarity, and personal growth,” Leo said for his June prayer intention, which was dedicated to sport.
Leo, who himself is an avid tennis player and sports fan, has also warned about how the win-at-all-cost mentality of sport has contributed to episodes of doping, match-fixing and other forms of corruption.
The Rev. Robert Dowd, president of Notre Dame, acknowledged Villanova had something of an edge considering it counts the pope as an alumnus. But in an interview Saturday, he said the occasion to bring both teams together with all their fans in Rome for a papal audience and season opener was “amazing.”
“That could be a little challenging, but I know that the pope is a pope for all of us, and so I’m grateful,” he said. “I know in a particular way the pope talks about the importance of bridge building, and I’m sure he’ll be a bridge builder when we play each other.”
Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez celebrated a private Mass for traveling fans in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday morning, and asked the thousands of people in the pews to give a round of applause to the players. The English-language liturgy was unusual in that it had all the trappings of a papal Mass celebrated at the main altar and televised live by Vatican Media.
Asked about the upcoming games on the papal plane during a recent trip to France, Leo said, “They tell me that the people coming to the match, 90% are Villanova and 10% Notre Dame, so the voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side.”
Leo is an avid Chicago White Sox fan, and has been known to follow basketball, too.
“He will know who they (the players) are. He’s a true, blue Villanovan,” said the Rev. Rob Hagan, Villanova’s longtime team chaplain. He said Leo used to attend Villanova games at the Palestra, the Philadelphia arena known as “The Cathedral of College Basketball.”
Sunday’s games coincide with All Saints’ Day, a major Catholic holiday.
