It’s playoff time for Major League Baseball, and the Chicago White Sox are in the mix. After sweeping the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Series, they beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 on Saturday. Game 2 is on Monday night.
For Catholic baseball fans, it’s even more interesting: Pope Leo XIV is a Chicago native, and the White Sox are the team he supports. But this may be causing emotional turmoil: The pontiff is the supreme head of the Church, and some fans may wonder whether that makes his baseball preferences binding.
Do you have to support his team, even if you are not in Chicago? For fans in Chicago, it is even more difficult: The city has two teams, and White Sox fans have a fierce rivalry with the Chicago Cubs. Is it a sin to hope the White Sox go down, and even hope they’re humiliated in the playoffs?
Michael Dunnigan is an associate professor of canon law at Saint Meinrad Seminary and holds degrees in canon law, civil law, and theology. He spoke to Crux Now about this important canonical debate that could fracture the U.S. Catholic Church.
Crux Now: One of the most interesting things about our new pope is that Pope Leo is an American. He’s also a baseball fan. His team is the White Sox, in his hometown of Chicago. The city has two teams; the other is the Chicago Cubs. Are Cubs fans now going to be automatically excommunicated for choosing not to support the Pope’s team?
Dunnigan: No, they won’t. Excommunication is the penalty for several very serious ecclesiastical crimes; for example, violating the seal of confession or desecrating the Eucharist.
Those would be things you could be excommunicated for. These crimes are specified in the Church’s penal law, or criminal law, though in the Church’s system it’s usually called penal law.
For there to be a penalty, there must be a crime, or in the Church’s system, what’s usually called a delict. These delicts are specified with corresponding penalties, and being a Cubs fan simply is not a delict at all, much less one punished with such a serious measure as excommunication.
Yet being from the pope’s hometown and rooting for the team that is the enemy of the pope’s team, wouldn’t that at least be schism?
Good try, but no, not quite.
Schism is the withholding of submission to the pope, or the withdrawing from communion with the other faithful who are subject to the pope.
Being in communion with the pope and with the other faithful means maintaining the three bonds of communion. Those bonds correspond to the three offices of Christ: Priest, prophet, and king. So the corresponding bonds would be the bond of worship, the bond of teaching, and the bond of Church governance.
Maintaining the bonds means accepting what the teaching office actually teaches as authentic, or even infallible, Catholic teaching.
Similarly, worship means following the approved laws and liturgical books on worship. And governance is the everyday ruling, or beyond the everyday, what’s necessary for the ruling of the Church.
When we get to things like the pope’s favorite teams, that’s a personal preference. It’s not something that’s required.
We don’t have to have the same teams, just as we didn’t have to become fans of the Argentinian national soccer team when Pope Francis was pope, or of Bayern Munich when Pope Benedict was pope.
But the pope is the supreme power of the Catholic Church. Couldn’t he, if he wanted to, declare the White Sox the official team of the Catholic Church?
No, he couldn’t. You’re certainly correct that he has supreme authority, but this is not the same as having absolute authority.
Supreme means he is the highest authority in the Catholic Church. He, and also the College of Bishops, are the supreme authority. But that does not mean he has absolute authority over everything in the lives of every individual Catholic.
For example, the faithful have legitimate freedom in secular affairs. This was taught by the Second Vatican Council, especially in Lumen Gentium and in the document on the apostolate of the laity.
Certainly, choosing a favorite baseball team falls well within the freedom of the faithful in secular affairs.
Some would say that your sports team is almost a religious devotion. If the pope’s team is in the playoffs, and let’s say they’re playing on a Sunday, is that a valid reason to miss Mass?
You’re certainly correct that there can be a danger of treating entertainment or sports as a religion, or almost as a religion. However, that’s a distorted attitude.
It is sometimes permissible to miss Mass even on a day when you’re obliged to attend, such as a Sunday or a holy day, but you have to have what’s called a grave reason, meaning a very serious reason.
The most common example is either your own illness, so you simply can’t make it to Mass, or you’re caring for somebody else who’s ill. So no, this would not be a legitimate reason to miss Mass.
I think especially in our day and age, in most places, if you’re watching the game, you could record it. And even if you’re attending the game, you could have fulfilled your obligation by going to Mass the Saturday before. So there’s really room for fulfilling your obligation and being a pretty ardent sports fan.
Does that mean it would be wrong for a priest to bless a White Sox shirt, even though the pope supports the team?
I don’t think so. There might be some disagreement on this.
As Catholics know, it’s common for priests or deacons to bless objects connected to piety or worship, such as rosaries, medals, etc. However, we also have other objects, like cars, pets, and houses, that are blessed. So there’s a really broad range of objects that legitimately could be blessed. It’s really anything that can be, even broadly, pointed towards a holy purpose.
However, once a thing is blessed, it’s set aside, in the sense that it’s got some type of religious purpose. But this does happen sometimes, and I think it’s legitimate if it’s properly understood.
However, if a priest got the sense that there was a lack of piety in the request, or something superstitious, like “bless our jersey so we’ll win,” he could decline. So I think it can be entirely proper to bless sports jerseys, but the priest could exercise his judgment as well.
I have seen many religious leaders themselves give Pope Leo shirts and objects related to sports of different kinds.
I’ve seen people even give the pope shirts for the Cubs. I’ve seen his face when this happens. I don’t think it makes him happy. Given what you just said, would it ever be proper to bless a Cubs shirt or a Cubs hat?
Absolutely. As everyone knows, the Cubs’ lack of success has sort of a biblical connection to it, in the sense of the wandering in the desert.
Again, there’s certainly some discretion on the part of the minister, but yes, a Cubs jersey or cap could, under the right circumstances, be blessed, if the priest were secure that this is not merely a superstitious request.
That brings up an interesting point. You say a superstitious request. Now, you’re a canon lawyer, and you’re supposed to reveal all things before you make any kind of legal answers to questions. Is there anything that you haven’t been telling us?
Not intentionally, but I think I know what you mean … I grew up in Chicagoland, and I have been a Cubs fan since the age of seven. So I’m happy to let your listeners share that information as well.
So the real reason you said that Cubs fans can’t be excommunicated was more self-interest on your part than really studying canon law?
No, it was based on the law. I’m happy to say it’s entirely based on the law. But it’s good to know a little bit about the law when you’re the pope’s anti-favorite team.
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
