Cubs get surprising update as Robert Francis Prevost named Pope Leo XIV

The Chicago Cubs are sitting atop their division to open the 2025 Major League Baseball season, but the wins and losses took a backseat on Thursday.

As the papal conclave appointed an American cardinal to be the new pope for the first time in history, Cubs fans immediately wondered if they had a peer at the head of the Vatican. Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago in 1955, a fact that Cubs fans were quick to point out on social media.

Shortly after Prevost was named the new pope, taking the name Pope Leo XIV, ABC News confirmed he is indeed a fan of the Cubs.

“ABC News just confirmed he’s a Cubs fan,” per CBS Sports’ Matt Eurich. “For those asking, the reporter on ABC said ‘He’s the first cardinal who’s a Cubs fan.’”

While having a Cubs fan at the head of the Catholic church might not mean much for the day-to-day decisions of the team, fans are fired up to learn that one of their own has received this incredible honor.

“Chicago Cubs, 2025 World Series Champions, confirmed. It is ORDAINED from on high,” Brett Taylor wrote for Cubs’ blog Bleacher Nation. “Let’s get His Holiness to Wrigley Field ASAP to throw out a first pitch and officially bless the ivy.”

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At 22-16, the Cubs were already off to a great start even before Pope Leo XIV was named. Now, fans might have a new reason to set their hopes on a miracle season that culminates in another World Series championship.

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