Two Popes Played for the Packers

There’s a new pope, with Chicago’s Robert Prevost taking the name of Leo XIV in becoming the first American-born pope.

What that will mean for the Chicago Bears’ Hail Mary defense – or quarterback Caleb Williams’ offensive line – is anyone’s guess. After solidifying their offensive line in free agency and then adding more skill-position talent in the draft, the Bears look like a team on the rise. After not having a prayer against the Green Bay Packers for the better part of three decades, there might be some added intrigue to their longstanding rivalry.

The Packers can only hope that Pope Leo doesn’t provide some divine intervention for the Bears or some divine inspiration to new coach Ben Johnson. Or maybe Packers coach Matt LaFleur needs to take a page out of Vince Lombardi’s playbook.

“I derive my strength from daily Mass and Communion,” Lombardi once said.

Two Popes have played for the Packers.

A receiver, Bucky Pope, was an eighth-round draft choice by the Los Angeles Rams in 1964.

“The Catawba Claw” originally was a basketball player at Duke before academic troubles. He resurfaced at Catawba, a school located in Salisbury, N.C. He was an immediate sensation on the basketball court. The school’s football coach, Harvey Stratton, spotted him playing flag football and persuaded him to join the football team.

In two seasons, he caught 66 passes for 1,197 yards. Scouted by legendary receiver Elroy Hirsch, the Rams drafted the 6-foot-5, two-sport star 105th overall.

Pope took the league by storm, catching 25 passes for 786 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie. His 31.4 yards per catch led the league by almost 10 yards per reception and he tied for the league lead in touchdown catches. In two games against Lombardi’s Packers, he caught three passes for 154 yards and one touchdown.

Pope suffered a knee injury during the 1965 preseason and missed the entire year. He never was the same, catching one pass in 1966 and eight in 1967.

He played three games for the Packers in 1968 but did not catch a pass and was released during the 1969 preseason.

“I can't run, can't catch, but I can still cut the grass,” he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2005.

In 2006, the Packers signed running back P.J. Pope off the Bears’ practice squad. An undrafted free agent in 2006, he finished as the only player in Bowling Green history with 3,000-plus rushing yards and 1,000-plus receiving yards. At the time, he was No. 1 in school history in rushing, second in all-purpose yards and tied for second in touchdowns.

Pope played in one game for the Packers but didn’t touch the ball in a victory over the Vikings. He was released during training camp in 2007.

In 2008, Pope played in five games for the Broncos, carrying 17 times for 130 yards.

In 2020, the Packers signed offensive lineman Ryan Pope to the practice squad, where he spent about three months. He never played in a game in the NFL.

No Pope had a longer NFL career than defensive back Marquez Pope, who intercepted 19 passes in 10 seasons. While with the 49ers in 1996, Pope intercepted Brett Favre but Green Bay won 23-20 in overtime on Chris Jacke’s 53-yard field goal. 

Before Prevost became pope, he was a bishop. The Packers have had one Bishop, linebacker Desmond Bishop. The hard-hitting defender started 25 games and had back-to-back 100-tackle seasons for the Packers in 2010 and 2011. He was a star of Super Bowl XLV with eight tackles, three tackles for losses and a pivotal recovery of a fumble forced by Clay Matthews.

Prevost graduated from Villanova. That school produced Hall of Fame defensive lineman Howie Long and All-Pro running back Brian Westbrook. Two Packers players went to Villanova, though neither were legends: defensive tackle Lou Ferry, a third-round pick in 1949 who spent one year with the team, and defensive tackle Rich Moore, the team’s first-round pick in 1969 who played only two seasons due in part to a torn Achilles.

The Packers don’t have any Popes on their current roster but they do have a Monk, Jacob Monk, a fifth-round pick last year.