Pope Leo XIV delivers Chicago message to packed field
1 of 3 | More than 30,000 are gathering at Rate Field on the South Side of Chicago Saturday to see Pope Leo XIV deliver a video message to a crowd in his hometown. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo
June 14 (UPI) -- More than 30,000 are gathering in Chicago Saturday to see Pope Leo XIV deliver a video message to a crowd in his hometown.
The Pope, who was born and raised in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost, will appear in a 7.5-minute recorded video at Rate Field.
The baseball park on the South Side of Chicago is home to the MLB White Sox, the Pope's favorite team.
Rate Field has a listed capacity of 40,615.
Pope Leo XIV has previously been photographed wearing a White Sox hat, the team he grew up cheering for in a working-class neighborhood.
Leo is the first person from the United States elected to serve as Pope.
Long before he was Pope, Prevost witnessed his White Sox win the 2005 World Series, capturing baseball's title for the first time in 88 years after winning four straight games over the Houston Astros.
In addition to the Pope's address, Saturday's event features a serenade from a Chicago Catholic school boys' choir competing on the reality TV program America's Got Talent. Chicago Bulls play-by-play voice Chuck Swirsky is serving as Master of Ceremonies.
The taped appearance comes just over a month after the 69-year-old was elected to the Papacy, to the delight of many Chicagoans and its large Catholic population.
The Archdiocese of Chicago estimates more than 2 million Catholics live in the region.
Saturday's festivities come a week after the Pope asked God to "open borders, break down walls and dispel hatred," during weekly mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.
On Friday, the Pope confirmed the date on which Italian teenager Carlo Acutis will be canonized. Acutis, who died at the age of 15 from leukemia in 2006, will become the first saint from the millennial generation on Sept. 7.
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