Recently, Pope Leo was gifted a Mississippi State baseball jersey with Papa Leone on the back of the jersey. The Pope’s face was one of “What am I supposed to do with this jersey?” Mississippi State was there to advance plans for the university’s first international residential center, following a partnership with the Pontifical University Antonianum.

This got me thinking about all the various gifts the Pope has received sports wise. This is likely the cause of being the first American Pope and it being known he was a White Sox fan. They even spotted him on camera at the 2005 World Series.

The Mississippi State baseball jersey made me really curious about all the jerseys the Pope has received. I also wonder where is the Pope keeping all of these items. Are they going to build a Pope jersey hall?

The Pope in his White Sox hat is a classic look. He looks truly happy getting gifts from his favorite team.

Again, an understated thrill for the Pope here. A signed jersey from the White Sox. Big win and a treasured piece of merchandise for Pope Leo. However, the Pope gifted a jersey back to the White Sox.

The Pope giving gifts back to the team he loves. Pretty cool. Now the White Sox section is done. Let’s move on to gifts from Chicago, the city the Pope is from.

This is an absolutely incredible shirt. DA POPE in the form of DA BEARS. Yeah, it’s only a T-shirt, but it's just an incredible shirt. It not being an officially licensed shirt makes it so much better here too. DA POPE is in possession of a shirt you’d likely get from street vendors surrounding a Bears game. It’s great.

The Pope getting a Bulls jersey is basically a given here. A Chicago sports team is automatically going to show up here. The #14 makes me remember Craig Hodges from the first Bulls three-peat. The current wearer of #14 is Matas Buzelis, whose apparent nickname is “Lil Buzi Vert.”

Now for the Bears jersey. This was given to him by the current vice president. This one has Roman numerals for the jersey. Not the standard #14.

I really wonder what else would look like if all our jerseys had Roman numerals instead of the current digits we use now. Up next.

This is truly messed up here. Mar Awa III, Catholic patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, traveled to Rome this week to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate and then gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey. Apparently Mar Awa is a huge Cubs fan and did this on purpose to basically troll the Pope! Mar Awa posted on his Instagram,“I had the joy of meeting His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican this morning, along with a delegation of bishops and priests of our holy Church. During the exchange of gifts, I presented the pope with a customized Cubs jersey and hat (in honor of all of our North Side Chicagoans). Needless to say, the pope enjoyed his gift very much. ☺️” He winky-face emojied the Pope!

The Cardinals are a rival of the Cubs, not the White Sox, and the Pope was a Cardinal in the church, so this is ok.

Mike Sweeney of the Royals gifted a jersey where the number on the back represented Pope Leo XIV’s place as the 267th successor of St. Peter, underscoring his role as the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church. Also, this would not be the first time the Pope was given a baseball bat. This is interesting enough, as the Royals are division rivals with the White Sox. It’s a bold move to present a bat to a fan of a division rival team.

The Pope also has received a Dodgers jersey. But Archbishop Jose Gomez asked Pope Leo to pray for the Dodgers during the World Series! So the Pope got a Shohei Ohtani jersey and a World Series hat. Then asked to pray for them??? Wow, the Dodgers are just pulling out all the stops.

The Pope got a bat handed to him on a plane. Apparently the Pope wondered how they got the bat past airport security.

The Pope met with Bishop Fisher of Buffalo and was given a Bills jersey. Now this would have been hilarious if it was a Stefon Diggs or Ryan Fitzpatrick jersey, but no, it just says Pope Leo on the back of the jersey. And of course the #14 is since he’s Pope Leo XIV.

Spike Lee is a gigantic fan of the Knicks, who have many Villanova basketball players on their team and are sometimes called the Nova Knicks. The Pope went to Villanova, so Spike Lee had a good reason to give the jersey. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges all attended the same school as the Pope.

Look how happy The Pope is with the Villanova hat here! So joyous. (not like that guy in the background)

Incredible Tyrone GAA jersey (Gaelic Football) toss to the Pope on the Popemobile. Great snag by Pope Leo.

Napoli won Serie A last year in Italy, and he was presented with a signed and framed kit. This seems like a yearly occurrence in Italy. It seems like if you win Serie A, you get to go see the Pope.

I wouldn’t be the first one to Volunteer this guess, but Tennessee appears to be the only College Football Jersey given to Pope Leo so far. Mississippi State gifted a baseball jersey but the Vols are the only school to gift a football jersey. So congrats Vols! Can they play Rocky Top at mass? Good ol’ Rocky Top, Rocky Top Vatican City. Nah that doesn’t work.

If you know of more jerseys given to Pope Leo XIV, let me know! I want to track these gifts. Thank you again for reading!