The Holy Father was gifted the baseball and a White Sox-themed rosary from A.J. Pierzynski.
Former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski visited the Vatican recently and gave two surprise gifts to Pope Leo XIV.
Writing on his social media account, the catcher, who was on the field for 2005 World Series, said:
“7-year-old me, at my First Communion, would have never thought that I would get to meet the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV,” adding, “I was honored to give him the last out ball from Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, the game he attended.”
“Hi, I’m A.J. Pierzynski,” the former major leaguer said as he introduced himself to Pope Leo XIV, as reported by The New York Times.
The Holy Father didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, I know who you are,” he replied with a smile. “You don’t have to introduce yourself.”
It turns out that while the rest of the world knows Leo XIV as the global leader of the Catholic Church, he holds another title back in the United States: Chicago’s most prominent White Sox fan. Long before he was elevated to the papacy as the nation’s first American-born Pope, he was just
