fVillanova President Ather Peter Donohue had lunch with some alums at a Chicago restaurant on Thursday when news came to say white smoke rolled from Sistine Chapel, indicating the election of the new pope. Donohue asked the restaurant staff to turn on the TV.

He knew his Villanova alumnus, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago native who graduated from Philadelphia-area schools in 1977 and two years after graduating from Donohue, he competed at the Pope Conference. But Donohue, like most other Catholics in the world, did not expect to see Cardinal Prevost enter the Vatican balcony and introduce himself to the world as the successor of Pope Francis. After all, other church officials have more experience than Prevost, who has been cardinal since 2023.

So when Prevost was actually declared the next pope, Donohue was as shocked as anyone. “I almost fell off the chair,” he told Time. “It’s a really long shot.”

In the following minutes and hours, he conducted a parade of blessings as Doch suddenly became the first person in history to lead an American university that occupied the pope in its alumni pool.

"You would think I was a pope and I got a lot of congratulations," Donohue said.

Villanova, a medium-sized Catholic institution operated by the same St. Augustine order, produced the newly fixed Pope Leo Xiv, who enjoyed it for a while. Villanova is a strong academic institution with a loyal alumni base, perhaps the most famous of the popular imagination of success in Pope basketball. Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright's Wildcats won their most recent titles in 2016 and 2018.

“We already have God: We have Jay Wright,” said Paul Disenso, a 2,000 Villanova alumnus living in the New York City area. "Now we have a pope, too. That's good."

More importantly, three of the champions - Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges are currently in the starting lineup for the New York Knicks, who won the second outstanding defending NBA title in the second playoff playoff game last night. The Knicks led the Knicks 2-0, holding two home games at Madison Square Garden, and New York's "Villa Novan Knicks" had a great chance to bring the franchise to the conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century.

Fans who forgive the Knicks believe that Pope Lion Fourteen’s surprise choice is a sign of divine intervention: Even Father Donoche has been enjoying some of the Knicks Pope memes rampant on the internet. "Oh, I've seen that!" he said, when I mentioned the pope's image to eat cake with three Villanova Knicks and Donte Divincenzo, former Villanova and Nicknova players were traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves before the season.

Forgive Rosanne Breen laughs with Villanova Love. "My Villanova pride has been 10 years old. Today is like 210," she said. Because today, on her 62nd birthday, Breen graduated from school in 1985, the year was when the Wildcats won Georgetown in the epic national championship basketball game to win the first title - a fellow math major. Brann's nephew, an engineering alum, sent her a text message: Aunt Rosanne, can you believe the Pope walked in Mendel Hall's hall and had the same teacher as you?

Breen won the school’s math medal in 1985: Breen’s children wondered if the Pope had won the honor, too. If he didn't, they certainly wouldn't mind mom providing the Pope with a pope in something.

"If he did, he probably wouldn't tell anyone. That's what he looks like. A very modest person," Donohue said.

In September 2022, Breen lost his family’s Long Island home (including the Mathematics Medal, including the Mathematics Medal) in the fire. She told a nearby couple that she had lost her precious award. Breen is unknown, her friends - who happens to be Jewish and has nothing to do with Villanova, who he calls the school informing officials of what happened to Breen. About a year ago, Breen found a surprise pack in his email. Villanova reshaped her math medal. It stands proudly in her rebuilt home.

She was called Rosanne Puntolillo at the time: over the past 35 years, Rosanne has married ESPN's NBA leader Mike Breen, which is a sacred sign-the New York Knicks. “I hope he is a basketball fan,” said Pope Rosanne Breen.

"I'm a little speechless," she said. "Of courses in Villanova's math major are a grain of sand."

Ryan Mahoney, a 2011 Villanova graduate who had web design and planning virtual tours in the Vatican in his junior year, hoped that Pope Leo XIV's election would allow the church to spread the school's core values ​​- the Truth (Truth), Unitas (Unity), Unity (Unity) and Caritas and Caritas (Love), and painted Campus on Medal and Campus in Breen. "As an alum, it's exciting for me, but as a Catholic, too," Mahoney said. "The Pope of the United States. Having these Augustine values ​​is really good for the Catholic Church around the world."

Villanova is in unknown waters: there is no data that predicts whether the pope election increases inbound benefits, such as in the U.S. higher education institutions, in the form of more applications and donations (e.g., in the form of more applications and donations). But if sports success is any indicator, Villanova can see the Pope's gift. Donohue said that after the basketball title, applications have increased, just like many schools. "Of course, the name is there," he said. "When we won the basketball tournament, people suddenly said, 'Let me see Villanova. Let me investigate what this place looks like.' So maybe people look at us and say, "Oh, the Pope is from Villanova.

Although Donohue knew Pope Leo XIV during his undergraduate years, he would not resign. “I can’t tell his story right now,” he said fanatically. "People would think that was terrible." Prevost was bright, analytical and friendly, but that wasn't like Donohue's idea, back in the mid-1970s, he would one day become Pope. “No one said that.”