Providence Academy students' chant with Pope Leo at Vatican goes viral
Pope Leo joins White Sox chants with MN students
Some Minnesotan students made a memorable moment with Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City. FOX 9's Maury Glover has the story.
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (FOX 9) - Pope Leo XIV is the first American Pope. That was clear during a visit by some Minnesota high school students at the Vatican.
‘That was just insane’
What we know:
Jack Sams and his friends have been on the trip of a lifetime for the past two weeks, but their Italian adventure hit a home run during a visit to Vatican City.
"It was just really cool and one of the experiences that you never would expect to happen in a million years," said Providence Academy student Jack Sams.
Viral visit
The backstory:
The group of students from Providence Academy went to St Peter's Square on Wednesday morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Leo.
They not only got to see him as he rode by in the back of the popemobile, they got his attention by chanting the name of his favorite baseball team while growing up in Chicago and the Pope waved at them and chanted it right back.
"I was like, Holy Moly, this is crazy! It's the Pope. So I was like really overwhelmed," said Sams.
"Just like that moment, when he was looking directly at us, you could definitely feel like a connection," said fellow student Henry Huber.
Sams took a video of their encounter with the Holy Homer and posted it on Tik Tok, where it has more than 350,000 views by Thursday afternoon and counting.
"Most people when they think of the head of the church, they don't think of like sports and White Sox and stuff. So I think it was like a cool way to connect it to some people that like enjoy sports a lot, and that's how like it also got a lot more views too," said student Matthew Schaffer.
Experience of a lifetime
What they're saying:
Sams isn't sure if their experience with the Pope was divine intervention, but he says its proof a little faith can go a long way.
"It's just one of those moments where you really feel blessed by God and just you feel the Holy Spirit working in your life, it's just really cool," said Sams.