{"id":1621,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1621","headline":"Pope Leo stays neutral ahead of Villanova-Notre Dame hoops doubleheader","dek":"The pontiff, a Villanova alum, met both teams in Rome before Sunday's Eternal City Tip-Off at Palazzo dello Sport.","body":"Pope Leo XIV hosted the Villanova and Notre Dame basketball programs at the Vatican on Saturday, and he was not playing favorites, at least not officially. The pope, who is a Villanova graduate and was born Robert Prevost, told the gathered players, coaches and families that in matters of sport he remains neutral.\n\nHe did not leave it entirely at that. \"Prevost has another opinion, but we won't do that now,\" he said, drawing laughs from the crowd of 7,000 people packed into the Vatican audience hall.\n\nThe joke set the tone for a lighter moment ahead of the real business: Villanova and Notre Dame open the college basketball season Sunday with a doubleheader in Rome, part of what organizers are calling the Eternal City Tip-Off. The games will be played at the 11,000-seat Palazzo dello Sport, about a half hour from the Vatican, with the men's and women's teams from both schools taking part.\n\nThe audience itself had been uncertain for a while, since the 71-year-old pope recently underwent lung cancer surgery. He showed up anyway, trading dribbles, photos and jokes with the players before sending them off to settle things on the court instead of in the stands.","published_at":"2026-10-31T23:05:12.791291+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope Leo tells Villanova and Notre Dame basketball teams he is neutral. Prevost has other ideas","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-tells-villanova-notre-215029046.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Pope Leo XIV stays neutral for Villanova-Notre Dame: ‘The pope doesn’t take sides’","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7742033/2026/10/31/pope-leo-villanova-notre-dame-rome-basketball/"},{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"Dribbles, Photos And Jokes: Pope Visits With Teams Ahead Of Eternal City Tip-Off","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-basketball/pope-leo-villanova-notre-dame-eternal-city-classic"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope Leo receiving teams and fans from US college basketball before their games in Rome","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-receiving-teams-fans-073702614.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Is Pope Leo a Villanova alum? How Holy Father is tied to Villanova's Rome trip","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-villanova-alum-holy-100443420.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope Leo tries to stay neutral as basketball rivals descend on Vatican","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-tries-stay-neutral-130149375.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope meets Villanova and Notre Dame basketball teams at the Vatican","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-meets-villanova-notre-dame-125035872.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope Leo XIV teases college basketball allegiance for Villanova-Notre Dame game","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-xiv-teases-college-145103424.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pope Leo XIV stays neutral for Villanova-Notre Dame: ‘The pope doesn’t take sides’","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pope-leo-xiv-stays-neutral-203103452.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/lo/mysterio/api/c6de5e46d648345a07a078c0b2d34bceff436aa77bec6a43e64a9d0228a5e3d0/lightyear_networkapi/resizefill_w1200_h675%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_webp/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fwpxi_cox_articles_540%2Ff2f185ff50ff6c96b55ffdcd5d9867ea.jpg","credit":"Yahoo Sports","width":1200},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}