Lately, Sade has been bouncing around in my head, clearly.

Pope Leo XIV (then Robert Prevost), left, at 2005 Game I World Series

[This is a partial rant about the frustration that comes with people being surprised at the nature of people’s memories. And before I go even one step further, I do not KNOW that any of my suppositions below are true. I made them confidently because the explanation I provided is so plausible. And it bothers me that people aren’t very curious about things that they blabber about on TV.]

Anyway, we have a new pope Leo XIV, as of May 8, 2025. His name previously was Robert Prevost, born in Chicago in 1955. He grew up in Chicago and his ministry, his assignment through the church was in Chicago, Rome, and Peru. A couple of countries that never had a pope before now each claim him, and that’s great.

Skipping ahead to 2005 when the Chicago White Sox were in the World Series. And Robert Prevost was in attendance. I have included a screen grab above to show what I am talking about. White Sox are up 5-3 in the top of the ninth. At the time, hardly anyone who was not his friend, or a former parishioner, or connected through the Catholic Church would have known that he was anyone other than a normal Chicago White Sox fan. He WAS Prior General of the Augustinian Order (the global head of the Augustinian order) at that time. So, an important person among his circle.

He lived in Rome during that time, so he was back home visiting, presumably. A baseball fan would probably make that “pilgrimage” to see their team play in the World Series if they had the chance. How did he get tickets? Isn’t he supposed to be poor? Again, I assume he was someone’s guest. Imagine the burst of adrenaline if YOU were the one who could invite the Prior General of the Augustinian order to watch the World Series game with you…

Now, the cameraman, there’s nothing about him in the picture that would tell anybody that he’s an important Catholic church figure. He’s not wearing a cross outside of his jacket. Nothing that makes him look like anything other than an ordinary Chicago White Sox fan.

OK, cool, he was at the game. And he appeared on TV, so how was it so easy for the video to be found? This is the part that I think a lot of people forget. He’s an important person, not in the broadest scheme of things. There are a lot of people everywhere who, even though he’s not, like, universally known at that time, he probably had a couple of thousand or tens of thousands of people who knew who he was based on his former role in Chicago, based on his current role in Rome. And anybody watching the show who’s a fan of the Chicago White Sox, there’s a pretty good chance that somebody watching the show at home would have pointed the TV and said, “Hey, I know that guy. He used to be the pastor at my church!” What are the chances that anyone is going to see their parish priest on TV during the World Series? I’d assume that made a strong memory.

Now, fast forward through time, and the people who knew who he was then, remembering each time it is reported that he is escalating the Catholic ecclestiasticl ladder, “Hey, I remember seeing Pastor Robert on TV at the White Sox World Series game. He was Pastor Robert then, but now he’s ‘Bishop Prevost’ or ‘Cardinal Prevost’…”

When he becomes Pope, then it’s time for people to get on to the barstools and start bragging about how, “Hey, the new pope,… he’s a White Sox fan. He was even at the 2005 World Series. I remember seeing him on TV right before the Sox won Game I…”

So when somebody is astounded that his brief appearance on TV was able to be located in as short a time as it was… I don’t think that person understands how friend groups work (maybe it’s just a midwest thing?). It only would take ONE person to get a message to someone who can access the archive. Hell, someone who is even a medium-strength White Sox fan probably had the series TIVO’d… (ask your dad). That person might have even been the person who called in to some sports venue with “proof” that the new Pope was at Game One of the Chicago World Series in 2005. Midwesterners remember that kind of stuff.

In the inimitable words of Mike Wilbon “I’m not surprised.”

Love you, bye.

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