{"id":61366,"date":"2025-06-13T23:15:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T23:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366"},"modified":"2025-06-13T23:15:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T23:15:28","slug":"newly-weds-who-go-viral-for-giving-pope-leo-xiv-his-chicago-white-sox-hat-hail-from-the-east-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366","title":{"rendered":"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Published<\/strong>\u00a0 June 13, 2025 6:03pm CDT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\"Newly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The couple responsible for the viral moment with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, where the Pontifex donned a Chicago White Sox hat in St. Peter’s Square, got to do so thanks to a chance meeting.<\/p>\n

According to WFXT Boston 25, the couple who created the viral moment are Kelly and Gary DeStefano, newlyweds who are from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the couple are from Haverhill, Massachusetts. Haverhill is a city about a 47-minute drive from Boston.<\/p>\n

The DeStefanos were married on May 25 and visited Rome to try and meet Pope Leo during his Weekly General Audience on Wednesday. That’s when Gary pulled out the White Sox hat and created the viral moment.<\/p>\n

“He laughed when my husband pulled out the hat and jokingly said something in regards to \u2018we\u2019ll be in trouble but [the Pope] won\u2019t,” Kelly DeStefano said, according to Boston 25.<\/p>\n

When the photo made it to the wires, the White Sox posted it to their social media platforms.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

The Sox, currently in the middle of the 2025 MLB season, don’t have time to dwell on the ongoings at the Vatican. But, manager Will Venable was asked before Wednesday’s game against Houston if he thinks about the fact that the Pontifex might know who he is.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t think about that,” White Sox manager Will Venable told reporters on Wednesday after the photo of Pope Leo in the White Sox hat went viral. “If he\u2019s a fan and locked into who the manager is, hopefully. But I\u2019m just glad that he\u2019s supportive of the White Sox. That\u2019s awesome.”<\/p>\n

Venable is just grateful for the support.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s great,” Venable told reporters. “I love the support. Need it.”<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIVWhite Sox<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to WFXT Boston 25, the couple who created the viral moment with Pope Leo XIV are Kelly and Gary DeStefano, newlyweds who are from Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":61367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[44,108,2197,1886,1808],"class_list":["post-61366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-people","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-white-sox"],"yoast_head":"\nNewly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to WFXT Boston 25, the couple who created the viral moment with Pope Leo XIV are Kelly and Gary DeStefano, newlyweds who are from Massachusetts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366\",\"name\":\"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA","og_description":"According to WFXT Boston 25, the couple who created the viral moment with Pope Leo XIV are Kelly and Gary DeStefano, newlyweds who are from Massachusetts.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366","name":"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-13T23:15:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/avtvip-2025-06-14T061506.239.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=61366#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newly weds who go viral for giving Pope Leo XIV his Chicago White Sox hat hail from the East Coast"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61368,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61366\/revisions\/61368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}