Dribbles, Photos And Jokes: Pope Visits With Teams Ahead Of Eternal City Tip-Off

There’s no room for favoritism in the Vatican. That’s what Pope Leo XIV told the basketball teams from Villanova and Notre Dame ahead of their highly-anticipated doubleheader in Rome. Then the pope, who was born Robert Prevost, said his former self might disagree. “Prevost has another opinion, but we won’t do that now,” he said to laughs during a cheering audience of 7,000 people from both schools — players, coaches, fans and their families — in the Vatican audience hall. Villanova and Notre Dame men’s and women’s teams will play in the Eternal City Tip-Off on Sunday at the 11,000-seat Palazzo dello Sport. The men’s game will tip off at 9:30 am ET on FOX, while the women’s game will follow on FS1. The audience had been up in the air after the 71-year-old pope underwent lung cancer surgery on Oct. 13 and is still recovering. But Leo kept the appointment ahead of Sunday’s opener. Leo graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Villanova, the Augustinian school near Philadelphia. He was born in Chicago — not far from Notre Dame, which is located in South Bend, Indiana. Dribbles And Photos Leo, an avid sports fan and tennis player, dribbled a golden basketball presented to him by the Villanova women’s team. And when the towering players from Notre Dame presented him with a jersey and another golden ball, Leo stepped up to the podium where his chair sits to try to gain a few inches (centimeters) on them. He posed for a photo with the Fighting Irish, holding the banner they gave him: “Pope Leo, Play like a champion today” — a riff on the famous Notre Dame sign at the university’s football stadium. But he gave Villanova equal time, making the “V'” gesture with his hand as chants of “Let’s Go ‘Nova” erupted in the audience hall. “He is a true Villanovan,” Villanova women’s coach Denise Dillon said. “I said, ‘OK everyone: V’s up.’ And he immediately was in with it.” ‘The Pope Doesn’t Take Sides’ After mistakenly starting out in Italian, Leo switched to English and spoke off the cuff, recalling that in his native Chicago, he grew up hearing “Go Irish,” the Notre Dame chant. “But as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova,” Leo said, referring to his past self in the third person. “So the pope doesn’t take sides,” he said to laughs, before revealing that “Prevost has another opinion, but we won’t do that now.” In his prepared remarks to the crowd, Leo urged the teams and their families to embrace sports as a way to grow in saintliness. “No one is born a champion, just as no one is born a saint,” Leo said. An Unbelievable Experience A mass was far from the only experience on the list for Notre Dame and Villanova men’s and women’s teams during their time in Rome. Players are scheduled to tour the Colosseum, participate in an Italian cooking class and co-host a Sports and Spirituality presentation at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum. Villanova men’s coach Kevin Willard told FOX Sports’ Ben Portnoy how excited he was for his team to experience so many life-changing moments during their trip. “My goal is for them 10 years from now is to sit back and be like, ‘What an unbelievable experience I had to play in Rome,’” Willard told Portnoy. “To have a mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, to have those opportunities, is really what I’m hoping for. Kids now, at this age, they’re excited to go to Rome. I just don’t think they understand the experience they’re going to have yet.” The game itself has the makings of a compelling early-season matchup, but the trip should be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all involved.”It’s something that really transcends sport, given our Augustinian mission here at Villanova and the opportunity to bring the Villanova community to the Vatican and celebrate our mission with Pope Leo,” Villanova athletics director Eric Roedl told Portnoy. “To do it through sport with basketball being as important a part of the DNA and culture of Villanova, it’s going to be pretty special.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.