Pope gifted Sunderland AFC shirt and says prayer for team hours before Europa League debut win
“I’m sure the prayer from the pope helped”
Sunderland parish priest and SAFC club chaplain Father Marc Lyden-Smith gifted Pope Leo XIV a customised Black Cats home shirt just hours before the team’s 1-0 victory over AZ Alkmaar at the Stadium of Light in their first game in the Europa League.
Father Marc was in Rome yesterday (September 16) with some of his Sunderland parishioners as part of a pilgrimage to the Vatican to meet the Pope.
He took with him a Sunderland AFC home shirt provided by the club with the words Pope Leo and the number 14 on the back.
Father Marc said: “I gave the shirt and a copy of my book, Faith and Football, to Bishop Seamus Cunningham who then handed them to the Pope. The Pope said he appreciated how sport and football brings people together and that he would pray for Sunderland AFC as they begin their European adventure.”
The video of the handover shows the Pope smiling as he unravels the shirt and unveils his name and number before he held the shirt and posed for a photograph.
Father Marc and his fellow Wearside pilgrims managed to find a bar to watch the match, and after a tight game in which the visitors missed several good chances, maybe there was some divine intervention at play.
Father Marc said: “We found a bar close to the hotel to watch the game and cheer them on, and it was a great night. I’m sure the prayer from the pope helped and it certainly wouldn’t have done any harm.”
Pope Leo was appointed as head of the Catholic Church in May last year (2025), after the death of Pope Francis, becoming the first pope from the USA.
Father Marc explained the pope developed a love of ‘soccer’ during his time working in Peru.
It’s not the first time Father Marc has gifted an SAFC shirt to the Pope. It 2013 he gave a shirt to the then Pope Francis.
Father Marc said: “Pope Francis was from Argentina and was a big football fan. His team was San Lorenzo.
“I gave him the Sunderland AFC shirt back in 2013 on the day before we played Newcastle United. He blessed the shirt and the next day we won the game.”