Villanova And Notre Dame Open Season With Rome Doubleheader Near Vatican
Villanova and Notre Dame will open their men's and women's basketball seasons in Rome on Sunday, Nov. 1, in a matchup organizers call the Eternal City Tip-Off, held roughly six miles from the Vatican. The men's game airs on FOX and FOX One at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by the women's game at noon ET. The event carries added weight for Villanova because Pope Leo XIV, elected in 2025, is a 1977 graduate of the university - the only American school that can claim a pope among its alumni.
Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, earned a mathematics degree from Villanova and belongs to the Augustinians, the religious order that founded the university near Philadelphia in 1842. Since his election, the school has leaned into the connection, hosting a sustainability conference in Rome weeks ago and awarding a cardinal its inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal. University president the Rev. Peter Donohue said the school's profile abroad has grown substantially. "We certainly have a bigger footprint there now than we used to," he said. "People do know who we are, just because it's the pope's school." Villanova reported an application increase of more than 10% in the first admissions cycle following Leo's election, a trend Donohue called "the Pope Leo effect." speedway betting online
Villanova has three NCAA men's basketball championships, in 1985, 2016 and 2018, and three of its alumni - dubbed the 'Nova Knicks - played key roles in the New York Knicks' NBA title run this year. Organizers expect roughly 6,000 Villanova fans and 1,000 Notre Dame supporters to travel to Rome for the Halloween-weekend games. Pope Leo, who has spoken publicly about his fondness for sports, said in September that "the voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side." Plans for the trip were finalized before his recent cancer diagnosis and surgery; health permitting, he is scheduled to hold a private audience at the Vatican on Saturday for the traveling teams and fans, with Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez set to celebrate a private Mass for the group inside St. Peter's Basilica.
The basketball trip coincides with a broader surge of interest in Villanova's Catholic identity. The Rev. Bernie Scianna, the university's vice president for mission and ministry and a longtime friend of the pope through their shared Augustinian order, said 56 people are currently preparing to join the Catholic Church through the campus program, compared with fewer than 10 in a typical year and 24 last year. Students and administrators describe a renewed sense of connection to Rome, reinforced by study-abroad programs and Vatican internships that have expanded in scope. Donohue, who was two years ahead of the future pope at Villanova and later chaired its theater department before becoming president, said the university intends to keep supporting its most famous alumnus. "We're very proud of him, and very proud that he's an Augustinian, and very proud that he is leading the church," he said. "Whatever we can do to help him, we're trying to do that."
