MUNICH (AP) — Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown says he wants to play flag football for Germany at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
And he might bring his brother, Equanimeous.
St. Brown, who is half-German, was asked about flag football after Detroit’s practice on Friday at the Bayern Munich campus near Allianz Arena, where the Lions face the New England Patriots on Sunday.
“I would love to play for the German national team for the flag Olympics, that would be something off my bucket list that I’ve done,” the wide receiver said at a packed news conference.
There’s a qualifying tournament scheduled a few weeks before the LA Games open. St. Brown said if he can work out the logistics involving any Lions training camps, then he’d be good to go.
“We’ve got two years until that comes," he said. "Hopefully we can make that work.”
It wouldn’t be the first time St. Brown has represented Germany. Amon-Ra and brother Osiris played for their mother's homeland at an Under-19 football tournament in 2015.
Equanimeous, at 30 the oldest of the three St. Brown brothers, is a former NFL wide receiver.
“I think Equanimeous would love to be part of that,” Amon-Ra said. “I don’t know the logistics. I heard you have to try out. Whatever it takes, I feel like we’d be down to do if time permits. But yeah, I think he would be definitely down to play with me on Team Germany.”
The St. Brown brothers grew up in Orange County and spent many summers visiting their maternal grandparents in Leverkusen, Germany. They speak German fluently.
Equanimeous was selected out of Notre Dame in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. He also played for Chicago and New Orleans.
Jona Winkel, Germany's flag football director of coaching, declined to say if there's been contact with St. Brown, but added: “In our experience, receiver is by far the position that allows the fastest transition from tackle to flag football.”
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) warms up during an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lennart Preiss)
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown addresses the media during a press conference after an NFL football practice in Munich, Germany, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lennart Preiss)
CHICLAYO, Peru (AP) — Pope Leo XIV returned Friday to his beloved former diocese of Chiclayo and said it was a “joy” to be home, an emotional homecoming that underscored his love for his Peruvian flock and their pride that their shepherd now runs the Catholic Church.
The pontiff, known here as “Padre Roberto,” arrived at Chiclayo’s airport on the Pacific coast and immediately headed to a vast, dusty field outside Chiclayo for his first Mass on Peruvian soil. The Vatican estimated 1 million people had lined his motorcade route to the Mass and that 500,000 attended.
They cheered wildly when Leo arrived and looped through the crowd in his popemobile, under a scorching sun and temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit).
“What a joy it is to return to Chiclayo!” Leo said at the start of his homily. “It is a blessing for me to be with you once again,” he said, thanking the faithful especially for their prayers during his recent hospitalization for lung cancer. He declared that “with God’s help, I am overcoming” the health scare.
Chiclayo, population 700,000, is the commercial hub of Peru’s northern Pacific coast. But much of the world heard about it on the night of Leo’s election, May 8, 2025, when he gave Chiclayo a shoutout, in Spanish, from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
And on Friday, Chiclayo welcomed its former shepherd home.
"I’m elated. He has decided to return to Chiclayo and we have him here, with us -- home,” said Julie Albujar, who woke before dawn with her sister to travel to the Mass site, where they were tasked with taking the collection. “This is a party and it’s a sign of our faith and our love for the pope.”
The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place and its people with teaching him how to be a shepherd. Pope Francis sent the Chicago-born Augustinian to take over as bishop of Chiclayo in 2014 and he stayed until Francis summoned him to Rome in 2023 to run the Vatican's bishops' office.
In hindsight, the 2023 transfer to Rome signaled that Francis saw in Prevost a potential successor, since the job is one of the most important in the church and would give Prevost the Vatican experience that many consider necessary to be a viable contender for the papacy.
But Prevost's heart is in Chiclayo, where he remains beloved for championing social justice issues and for his closeness to the people, especially poor people, during times of crisis. And he had quite a few during his tenure: COVID-19, devastating floods, and a surge of Venezuelan migrants as the humanitarian situation worsened there in 2018.
“I’m so glad he’s returning,” said Rolando Antonio Mendoza, who was selling posters bearing the pope’s image in front of the cathedral where Leo used to celebrate Mass. “Even though he’s now Pope Leo XIV, he hasn’t forgotten about his homeland.”
Nearby, the El Trébol proudly calls itself the pope's restaurant, and his image is displayed in framed photos of Prevost riding a horse, wading through the mud in rubber boots and celebrating his birthday with a cake.
A sign on his favorite table — No. 3 — with a view of the cathedral reads: “mesa bendita” – Spanish for blessed table. Like many other places around the city, the restaurant sells “Papaletas” or “Pop(e)sicles" with Leo's image in white chocolate.
Just a few steps from the restaurant, a life-size cardboard cutout of the pope now welcomes visitors to his former residence at the diocese, where an exhibit displays the amaranth purple, scarlet and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, that he wore as bishop, cardinal and now pope.
“I feel so happy about my work because the pope is Chiclayano,” said Cynthia Charrary, who was sweeping the streets near the city’s main square ahead of Leo’s arrival. “We want our city to be cleaner than ever.”
Ever since Leo touched down on Peruvian soil on Wednesday, the world has seen a very different pope.
Normally reserved and placid, the 71-year-old Leo has seemed at turns positively giddy and overwhelmed with emotion to the point of tears.
That was certainly the case on Thursday night when some 60,000 young Peruvians sang for him in the Lima stadium. It was also the case when he sang the national anthem at the presidential palace upon his arrival on Wednesday.
On other occasions, he has shown himself so relaxed and comfortable as to joke about his health. Speaking to Peruvian bishops, he joked about how some “doubting Thomases” didn’t think he’d make it because of his recent lung cancer surgery.
Seminarian Darwin Sánchez knows that warm, friendly and understanding side. He recalled a Mass when, as a young altar boy, he mishandled the censer and passed it on to the bishop of Chiclayo.
After the service, Prevost took him aside and affectionately told him to be a bit more careful. Prevost had burned his hand when the chain fell into the hot charcoal, but he kept carrying it and didn’t complain or reprimand Sánchez in front of others.
Today, this soon-to-be priest got another chance to serve Leo by carrying the pope’s miter at Mass.
“He’s approachable, happy and he gave me the strength and courage to follow my vocation,” Sánchez said.
As the Mass ended, the crowd erupted into a chant that reaffirmed their pride in calling the spiritual leader of more than 1.4 billion Catholics their own:
“El papa es Chiclayano!” they joyously yelled in Spanish: “The pope is Chiclayano.”
After the Mass, Leo's other main events of the day include a meeting with Chiclayo clergy and seminarians and a speech to the Catholic university where he served as chancellor during his years as bishop. The university is named for the 16th-century first archbishop of Lima, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo.
Leo is particularly devoted to Mogrovejo and in many ways modeled his ministry on his.
Mogrovejo is revered for having traveled long distances on horseback to be with his flock and for having defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved peoples. He studied Quechua and Aymara and oversaw the printing of church teaching in these Indigenous languages, because he believed the faith had to be transmitted in a language people could understand.
The Rev. John Lydon, an Augustinian who lived with Leo in Peru for over 10 years, says his commitment to Peruvians, human rights and involving the lay faithful in the running of church initiatives was born during his stints first as a young missionary priest in Chulucanas, then Trujillo and finally as bishop in Chiclayo.
Lydon recalled that Leo first arrived in Peru in the mid-1980s and saw the period of the Shining Path terror campaign and the later crackdown by the authoritarian Fujimori regime. In the late 1990s, then-Rev. Prevost led a campaign to collect signatures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“These are the kind of things that just mark his identity,” Lydon recalled.
AP writer Mauricio Savarese contributed from Lima.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass in Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Pope Leo XIV presides over Mass at an open space near the Pampas de Pimentel in Pimentel, Peru, on the eighth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass at an open space near the Pampas de Pimentel in Pimentel, Peru, on the eighth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass in Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass in Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass at an open space near the Pampas de Pimentel in Pimentel, Peru, on the eighth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The faithful await a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV after spending the night at Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Nuns prepare ciboria containing Communion wafers ahead of a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The faithful await a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV after spending the night at Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The faithful hold letters spelling the Spanish word for "Welcome" ahead of a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in Pampas de Pimentel, near Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A cutout of Pope Leo XIV is displayed outside a restaurant in Chiclayo, Peru, where the pontiff served as bishop, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
People take a selfie with a sign of Pope Leo XIV in Chiclayo, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Faithful cheer during a prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end of a prayer vigil at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV catches a stuffed lion as he arrives to lead a prayer vigil at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
