ROME (OSV News) — Augustinian friars watched anxiously courtside, Vatican officials cheered from the stands, and fans in costume bishops’ miters sang “That’s Amore” as Notre Dame defeated Villanova Nov. 1 in the Eternal City Tip-Off.

It was a basketball season opener unlike any other, made possible by the first U.S.-born Pope, who grew up hearing “Go Irish” in Chicago, but cheered for Villanova as a university student.

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’s Paul VI Hall and joked about which team he would be rooting for.

“Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, we oftentimes heard, ‘Go Irish!’” Pope Leo told the thousands of Americans in the Paul VI Hall Oct. 31. “But, as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova. So the Pope doesn’t take sides. Prevost has another opinion, but we won’t do that now.”

Despite his professed papal neutrality, Pope Leo could not help but lift up his hand in the Villanova signature “V” 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.

Jerseys, laughs, and a last-minute comeback

As Pope Leo shook hands and blessed babies among the enthusiastic American crowd, several people shouted “Go White Sox” as the sports-loving American Pope passed by.

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 a step beside the towering athletes and laughed.

As the students presented Pope Leo with a custom Notre Dame basketball jersey, Holy Cross Fr. Robert Dowd, the president of Notre Dame, quipped, “Just what you always wanted!”

While Pope Leo did not attend Sunday’s basketball games in Rome’s Palazzo dello Sport, where Notre Dame men’s team narrowly defeated Villanova 74-72 in a last-minute comeback and the Fighting Irish women’s 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.

For Sean Callahan, a Villanova mechanical engineering alumnus from the Washington, D.C., area who wore a bishop’s miter he bought at a costume store, the audience with the Pope was “a very unique and wonderful once in a lifetime experience.”

Fans find fraternity in the Eternal City

“The game has been awesome, but also the fraternity between Villanova and Notre Dame and the fans,” Fr. Alex Nevitt, a priest based in Rome from the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., told OSV News, describing how the alumni and fans who came to Rome have been “walking in the footsteps of the saints” in the Eternal City.

“That powerful experience is just huge,” he added. “And 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’re here.”

“It 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’re very welcome and we’re very proud to be here,” Jim Farrington, a professor at Notre Dame’s law school, said.

John Ermilio, a Villanova alumnus known as the “Nova hat guy” for the lucky hat he wears to every game, called the audience an honor.

“When you get somebody that close to my background … to be the leader of the Catholic Church, I mean, the head of 2 billion people all around the world,” he said. “He’s such a marvelous man.”

Dance battles and a broadcast first

Before tipoff, Ermilio teased Notre Dame fans, asking, “Is there any Notre Dame priest who became pope?” During the men’s game, he was seen in a dance battle with the Notre Dame mascot.

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’s and women’s basketball teams.

The game began with a prayer led by Michael Iskander, the actor who played King David in the Amazon Prime Video series “House of David.” The Catholic prayer app Hallow was among the event’s corporate sponsors.

During the papal audience, Pope Leo shared some spiritual thoughts on the value of sports.

“As 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,” Pope Leo said. “This is increasingly necessary in an age marked by the distance that can be created by technology.”

Saints, athletes, and daily training in love

Noting that the game would take place on All Saints’ Day, Pope Leo said that because God calls everyone to be a saint, people are invited “to ensure that every aspect of our lives, including our athletic endeavors, will help us to love God and our neighbor.”

“For 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,” Pope Leo said.

“Christians are called to run in the race of life with the objective of winning an imperishable crown of glory,” he added.

Basketball players and fans from the opposing teams attended Mass together in St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia ahead of the papal audience.

“Bringing 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,” said Augustinian Fr. Peter M. Donohue, president of Villanova University.

A clinic with Special Olympics athletes

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.

Villanova men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players. My goal is that this is something they’ll look back at when they’re 50 and treasure. We’re excited to be in Rome with so many of our alumni and fans to kick off the college basketball season.”

– – –

Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X.