Supporters of Pope Leo XIV gathered Saturday, not in a cathedral or a church, but a baseball stadium the pope once frequented years as Robert Francis Prevost.

In his first words directed specifically to Americans, Pope Leo XIV told young people on Saturday how to find hope and meaning in their lives through God and in service to others.

"What does the pope think about us being related? That's my question," one cousin said. "What does he think of us because we're Afro American?" She plans to write a letter inviting Leo to her home if he ever visits New Orleans.

At an event celebrating the city's native son, Cardinal Blase Cupich spoke on immigration and the undocumented in his "Sermon on the Mound."

Pope Leo XIV stressed the importance to society of sport in his Angelus address in the Vatican on Sunday. Sport was more than physical achievement, but could also "become an important means of reconciliation and encounter: between peoples and within communities,

Recognize that God is present,” he said in a recorded video to a crowd gathered at the home stadium of the White Sox.

Pope Leo XIV has reacted to the terrible massacre of nearly 200 people in the Yelwata community in the Guma local government area of Benue state.