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ROME \u2014 Augustinian friars watched anxiously courtside, Vatican officials cheered from the stands and fans in costume bishops\u2019 miters sang \u201cThat\u2019s Amore\u201d as Notre Dame defeated Villanova Nov. 1 in the Eternal City Tip Off.<\/a><\/p>\n It was a basketball season opener unlike any other, made possible by the first U.S.-born pope, who grew up hearing \u201cGo Irish\u201d in Chicago, but cheered for Villanova as a university student.<\/p>\n During a papal audience with 6,000 fans, alumni and athletes the day before game day, Pope Leo dribbled a golden basketball in the Vatican\u2019s Paul VI Hall<\/a> and joked about which team he would be rooting for.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up on the South Side of Chicago, we oftentimes heard, \u2018Go Irish!’\u201d Pope Leo told the thousands of Americans in the Paul VI Hall Oct. 31. \u201cBut, as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova. So the pope doesn\u2019t take sides. Prevost has another opinion, but we won\u2019t do that now.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his professed papal neutrality, Pope Leo could not help but lift up his hand in the Villanova signature \u201cV\u201d sign while posing for a photo with the Villanova basketball team at the end of the audience, drawing loud cheers from Villanova supporters in the hall. The pope graduated from Villanova in 1977 with a mathematics degree.<\/p>\n As Pope Leo shook hands and blessed babies among the enthusiastic American crowd, several people shouted \u201cGo White Sox\u201d as the sports-loving American pope passed by.<\/p>\n Pope Leo appeared in good spirits during his interactions with the student athletes. When taking a photo with the Notre Dame basketball players, Pope Leo stood up on step beside the towering athletes and laughed.<\/p>\n As the students presented Pope Leo with a custom Notre Dame basketball jersey, Holy Cross Father Robert Dowd, the president of Notre Dame, quipped, \u201cJust what you always wanted!\u201d<\/p>\n While Pope Leo did not attend Sunday\u2019s basketball games in Rome\u2019s Palazzo dello Sport, where Notre Dame men\u2019s team narrowly defeated Villanova 74-72 in a last minute comeback and the Fighting Irish women\u2019s team won 99-75, many of the fans in the sports complex told OSV News that the papal audience was the highlight of the weekend.<\/p>\n For Sean Callahan, a Villanova mechanical engineering alumnus from the Washington, D.C., area who wore a bishop\u2019s miter he bought at a costume store, the audience with the pope was \u201ca very unique and wonderful once in a lifetime experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe game has been awesome, but also the fraternity between Villanova and Notre Dame and the fans,\u201d Father Alex Nevitt, a priest based in Rome from the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, told OSV News, describing how the alumni and fans who came to Rome have been \u201cwalking in the footsteps of the saints\u201d in the Eternal City.<\/p>\n \u201cThat powerful experience is just huge,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd how sports has brought us together here, both Notre Dame and Villanova, to be here in the Eternal City, with sports being kind of a catalyst, but God being the real reason why we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to be the best place for opening basketball between Notre Dame and Villanova, two iconic Catholic universities in the United States, despite the fact that the pope went to Villanova, we\u2019re very welcome and we\u2019re very proud to be here,\u201d Jim Farrington, a professor at Notre Dame\u2019s law school, said.<\/p>\n John Ermilio, a Villanova alumnus known as the \u201cNova hat guy\u201d for the lucky hat he wears to every game, called the audience an honor.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get somebody that close to my background \u2026 to be the leader of the Catholic Church, I mean, the head of 2 billion people all around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s such a marvelous man.\u201d<\/p>\n Before tipoff, Ermilio teased Notre Dame fans, asking, \u201cIs there any Notre Dame priest who became pope?\u201d During the men\u2019s game, he was seen in a dance battle with the Notre Dame mascot.<\/p>\n The Eternal City Tip-Off marked the first time an NCAA regular-season basketball game or major American basketball event has ever been broadcast live from Rome. The NCAA granted a special waiver allowing the teams to begin their seasons one day before the official opening of college basketball for the men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams.<\/p>\n The game began with a prayer led by Michael Iskander, the actor who played King David in the Amazon Prime Video series \u201cHouse of David.\u201d The Catholic prayer app Hallow was among the event\u2019s corporate sponsors.<\/p>\n During the papal audience, Pope Leo shared some spiritual reflections on the value of sports.<\/p>\n \u201cAs many of us have experienced, by acting as a concrete means of bringing people together, athletics can teach the values of cooperation and mutual sharing,\u201d Pope Leo said. \u201cThis is increasingly necessary in an age marked by the distance that can be created by technology.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on how the match would take place on All Saints\u2019 Day, Pope Leo said that because God calls everyone to be a saint, people are invited \u201cto ensure that every aspect of our lives, including our athletic endeavors, will help us to love God and our neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor a number of saints, including Pier Giorgio Frassati, a patron saint of athletes, sport was an important component of their lives. His life, as well as that of many holy men and women, reminds us that no one is born a champion, just as no one is born a saint. Rather, holiness requires a daily training in love,\u201d Pope Leo said.<\/p>\n \u201cChristians are called to run in the race of life with the objective of winning an imperishable crown of glory,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Basketball players and fans from the opposing teams attended Mass together in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica celebrated by Archbishop Nelson J. P\u00e9rez of Philadelphia ahead of the papal audience.<\/p>\n \u201cBringing Villanova University and our student-athletes to Rome highlights the power of sport to bring people together, foster unity and strengthen our sense of community, both at home and around the world,\u201d said Augustinian Father Peter M. Donohue, president of Villanova University.<\/p>\n Villanova partnered with Special Olympics and Athletica Vaticana to host a basketball clinic in Rome during the weekend with former Villanova head coach and two-time national champion Jay Wright and young athletes, including Special Olympics athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n Villanova men\u2019s basketball coach Kevin Willard said, \u201cThis is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players. My goal is that this is something they\u2019ll look back at when they\u2019re 50 and treasure. We\u2019re excited to be in Rome with so many of our alumni and fans to kick off the college basketball season.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>
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