Pope Leo XIV Rocks Villanova Ball Cap At National Italian American Foundation Meeting

VILLANOVA, PA — The new pope is going a bit viral, and in a great way.

Pope Leo XIV was captured on camera donning a ball cap of his Main Line alma mater Wednesday.

The Chicago native and Villanova University graduate rocked the hat at a National Italian American Foundation Meeting at the Vatican.

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Check out the footage below:

"Has the Pope worn your school’s hat?" Villanova basketball said on social media while sharing the footage.

Robert Francis Prevost attended Villanova University from 1973 to 1977. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics before committing himself to the priesthood.

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It's not known exactly where the Chicago native lived during those college years, and whether it was on campus or off campus, but it's clear he spent significant time in Delaware County.

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Some have gone as far as to call him one of Delco's own, including a Philly Burbs report that suggests his home during his college years was indeed within the county's borders. While Villanova University is in Radnor Township in Delco, it borders and straddles Montgomery County and Lower Merion Township, as well.

Francis, 69, is the first American to ever hold the position, and was chosen despite the Vatican's long-held hesitancy to select a pope from one of the world's superpowers. In the past, America has also been seen as too secular in the eyes of the strict dogmatists in Rome.

After graduating from Villanova, Prevost returned to his native Chicago, where he obtained a master of divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in 1982, the same year he was ordained as a priest.

He was appointed as a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 after serving as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 to 2023. He is a dual citizen of America and Peru.

“As an Augustinian Catholic institution, we celebrate this significant day for our University community and the global Church," Villanova University President Peter M. Donohue said in May. "With today’s election of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, I cannot help but reflect on what his Augustinian papacy will mean to our University community and our world...Pope Leo XIV’s leadership offers an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our educational mission."