White Sox unveil a graphic installation honoring Pope Leo XIV and his World Series appearance

CHICAGO (AP) — There is a new landmark at the home of the Chicago White Sox — Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2.

That's where Father Bob — the future Pope Leo XIV — sat for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.

The White Sox unveiled a graphic installation Monday that pays tribute to the new pontiff and that moment during their last championship run. The pillar artwork features a waving Pope Leo XIV, along with a picture from the TV broadcast of the future pope sitting with good friend Ed Schmit and his grandson, Eddie.

The team also is planning to do something to commemorate the Rate Field seat the pope occupied during the 2005 World Series opener.

“When people come into the ballpark, it's an interesting piece of our history and they're going to want to see it,” said Brooks Boyer, the chief executive and marketing officer for the White Sox. “So we're going to be able to put something on that seat.”

Robert Prevost became the first pope from the U.S. in the history of the Catholic Church when he was elected on May 8. The Chicago-born missionary, who took the name Leo XIV, is a White Sox fan, according to his friends and family.

Prevost attended the World Series opener with Schmit, a longtime season-ticket holder who died in 2020. The White Sox beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on their way to a four-game sweep for the title.

Eddie Schmit, 25, who works in the family's day-care business, described the future pope as a great guy and kindhearted.

“A lot of this is about the White Sox. It should be more about what kind of guy the pope is,” Schmit said. “You look at some of the things he’s done with his missions, I mean it’s incredible. He’s been in places that are so poor, just trying to help other people.”

Prevost and Schmit knew each other through their work at a Catholic high school on Chicago’s South Side, and Schmit’s son, Nick, remains the account holder for the pope’s World Series seat.

Ed Schmit used to tell Father Bob he was going to be the next pope, Schmit's daughter, Heidi Skokal, said.

“Right around when my dad was passing, Father Bob made sure, he couldn't be there, but made sure he spoke with him and everything,” an emotional Skokal said. “And he said, ‘Father Bob, Father Bob, I know you’re going to be the next pope. I may not be here to see it.' And he goes, ‘But I’ll be definitely looking down.' And I'm sure he is today.”

The White Sox, who have struggled on the field in recent years, and their fans have embraced their connection to the new pope since he was elected. The team said it sent a jersey and a hat to the Vatican after the announcement.

Some fans have been dressing as the pope for White Sox games, and there are several different T-shirts that celebrate the team's most famous fan.

“The pope absolutely has an open invite to come back,” Boyer said. “To come sit in Section 140, to throw out a first pitch. Heck, maybe we'll let him get an at-bat.”

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The Chicago White Sox honors Pope Leo XIV on the scoreboard at Rate Field before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Eddie Schmit III, left, and his son Eddie Schmit IV, right, pose for a photo after a news conference for the Chicago White Sox's commemoration of team fan Pope Leo XIV with a graphic installation at Rate Field before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the White Sox in Chicago, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Brooks Boyer, left, Chicago White Sox Senior Vice President, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer talks to media at a news conference for Chicago White Sox commemorate fandom of Pope Leo XIV with Graphic installation at Rate Field before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Father Tom McCarthy, left, and Brother Joe Ruiz, right, pose for a photo after a news conference for the Chicago White Sox's commemoration of team fan Pope Leo XIV with a graphic installation at Rate Field before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the White Sox in Chicago, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

White Sox commemorate fandom of Pope Leo XIV with Graphic installation at Rate Field before a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)