IT was a gift to caption writers. On his flight to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV was gifted a baseball bat once owned by Nellie Fox, a Chicago White Sox legend.

A present from CBS journalist Chris Livesay, pictures of the Pope holding the bat like a cudgel spread like wildfire on social media.

“How did you get this through security?” the Pope asked.

There’s no doubt that the bat will take pride of place in the Apostolic Palace when Leo gets back to Rome from his first foreign pilgrimage.

Brian Feeney: Stormont is a pantomime and DUP is playing the role of baddie

Aoife Moore: My cousin Patrick died aged 29 from Aids. Now the north’s HIV rates are at a record high

En route to Turkey, Pope Leo was gifted a bat once owned by Chicago White Sox legend Nellie Fox.

CBS News foreign correspondent @SayChrisLive gave him the bat - a family heirloom - during the flight after some relatives encouraged him to give it to the pontiff, who is an avid… pic.twitter.com/jjOkpzAQye

The Sox fan – then called Robert........

© The Irish News