Chicago-born Pope Leo now has a custom White Sox jersey from a suburban shop, thanks to a local nun.
Chi City Stitch, in suburban Oak Forest, posted about Pope Leo XIV’s newest swag on Instagram last week.
“Now this is cool,” the post said. “Chills! The Pope just received a jersey we stitched…at the Vatican!”
Store owner Dave Wisniewski told NBC Chicago the White Sox reached out to their shop after a local nun – a friend of a friend – told the team she was going to the Vatican to meet the Pope, and that she wanted to bring a gift from back home.
“Seeing this small business that made a jersey make it all the way to the Vatican,” Wisniewski said. “[Not in our] wildest dreams that this would happen.”
Wisniewski in his social media post said the nun, a Milwaukee Brewers fan, originally hoped to get a custom Brewers jersey to wear during her meeting.
“Little did we know that the Vatican wouldn’t allow Sister Deb to wear her Brewers gear in,” the post said, adding that she was in fact allowed to gift Pope Leo White Sox swag.
The shop recently received a framed picture of Pope Leo holding the locally stitched jersey, calling the experience “truly surreal.”
