Can a South Side Pope Speak to a Global Working Class?

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost of Chicago’s South Side, may be signaling something far more disruptive than a shift in spiritual leadership. He’s a former missionary in the slums of Peru. An Augustinian. And if his chosen name is any indication, he’s aligning himself with one of the boldest traditions in Vatican history—defending labor in the face of capital.

More than a century ago, Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum, the Church’s groundbreaking endorsement of workers’ rights. With global inequality surging and tech-driven capitalism reshaping work itself, the arrival of a new Leo could not be more timely. This pope, unlike many political leaders, may be ready to speak the one word billionaires fear: justice.

Now, here’s the thing. The new pope is also a White Sox fan.

The new pope is a White Sox fan.

As soon as Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV, the question popped up online: Sox or Cubs? His brother John settled it quickly in an interview with WGN: “He was never, ever a Cubs fan,” he said. “So I don’t know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan.”

That might sound like trivia. It’s not. Because if you understand anything about Chicago’s South Side, you know that choosing the Sox isn’t just about baseball. It’s about class, place, and loyalty. That might not mean much to the rest of the world, but to me, it says everything about who you are.

Rooting for the South Side means you likely have an innate love of the underdog. It’s a working-class identity, a sign of loyalty to neighborhoods that are often overlooked.

That small detail tells you something deeper. This pope, like his namesake more than a century ago, may be stepping into the age-old fight between capital and labor, not as a neutral party. Helping the poor and downtrodden is central to Catholic teaching, a mission Pope Francis elevated. But Pope Leo XIV could take it further.

The Vatican has swapped a Jesuit for an Augustinian.

If the Jesuits are intellectual heavyweights, political, philosophical, and global in scope, then Pope Francis was the embodiment of that tradition. Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost, comes from a different spiritual lineage. Not only is he a Chicagoan, he is an Augustinian.

Augustinians are mendicants, like the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites. These are orders built around vows of poverty and service. They don’t stay cloistered. They embed in cities. They preach, teach, and minister in the thick of life, among those most in need.

The Augustinian tradition is rooted in the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo. He is also my confirmation saint. His influence on Catholic thought, especially around grace, justice, and community, is hard to overstate. Prevost led the Augustinians globally for more than a decade. He lived for nearly 20 years in the slums of northern Peru. His spiritual DNA reflects that legacy: radical humility, deep contemplation, and a theology that demands action.

His papal name, Leo, is no accident.

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum (Of New Things), one of the most important encyclicals in Catholic history. It was the Church’s first formal stance on the dignity of labor. It affirmed the right of workers to unionize and laid out responsibilities for both capital and labor.

Leo XIII wasn’t a Marxist. But he did rail against capitalism when it was unmoored from ethics. It’s hard to imagine the labor movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries without the Church’s shift in doctrine. In fact, the Church has long been more progressive on labor than most American politicians, especially conservatives. Rerum Novarum didn’t merely permit unions; it encouraged them. When workers organize to protect their wages, health, and dignity, they are in moral alignment with Catholic teaching.

Nearly every pope since has reaffirmed that message. Pope John Paul II backed the Solidarity movement in Poland. Pope Francis spoke often about the exploitation of labor. In the U.S., many mainstream politicians treat unions as corrupt relics of the past. The Vatican hasn’t wavered. To pope after pope, labor organizing is a human right. In Catholic social teaching, the picket line is sacred ground.

Now, Pope Leo XIV inherits a world with new robber barons. Not steel magnates or railway kings, but algorithmic overlords and private equity firms. They have burrowed deeper into the worker’s psyche than Carnegie ever could.

Into this moment steps a pope from the South Side, formed in the tradition of St. Augustine.

Habemus Papam: We have a pope who believes in common goods and communal living.
Habemus Papam: we have a pope who has already signaled openness to ideas like debt relief, land rights, and even, saints preserve us, reparations.

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the Gilded Age and its modern parallels. The first Pope Leo faced the Industrial Revolution. This one faces the collapse of the most recent social contract. The poor remain disposable, perhaps more so now.

If papal names are never arbitrary, then Pope Leo XIV’s name is a reminder. The Church’s job is not just to pray over suffering, but to stand with those who suffer and fight with and for them.

So yes, the new pope is thankfully a White Sox fan.
But more importantly, he is a Leo. He is Augustinian.
And if he follows through on the promise of his name, he could be the most consequential pope in a century.

That is, if he remembers that Jesus flipped tables.