This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com
You may have heard about the so-called Pope — Seahawks theory. It’s the idea that every time a new Pope is elected, the Seahawks end up going to the Super Bowl.
It’s happened before.
In 2005, Pope Benedict was elected, and that same season, the Seahawks made a Super Bowl run. In 2013, Pope Francis was chosen, and Seattle went on to win it all. In both of those seasons, the Hawks also finished with just three losses.
Now, history buffs and football fans are buzzing again.
This year brought the election of Pope Leo, the first American Pope, and once again, the Seahawks find themselves Super Bowl-bound.
So… coincidence? Or something more?
A higher authority weighs in on Seahawks Super Bowl chances
We took the question to Father Bryan Dolejsi, Pastor of the St. Anthony and St. Stephen the Martyr Parishes, asking whether there’s anything to the superstition and whether divine intervention plays a role on the football field.
Father Dolejsi smiled at the theory, reminding us that faith isn’t about predicting sports outcomes.
“So, it’s not like a hard-line kind of thing. In the end, I’m sorry to say, only God knows,” Father Dolejsi said. “Only God knows in the large scheme of things, but it is kind of fun that we have like an American pope, and we’re here, and we’re all people have a lot of good spirit about it.”
Next, we turned to the bible and whether it would be a sin to ask God to let the Seahawks win.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it any sin in the large scheme of sin. There are a lot of major sins in the world,” he explained. “However, I will quote my mother here for you, my good Catholic mother, when I was a kid growing up, and I was playing basketball and baseball and stuff. I was like, well, I pray that I’m going to play well and then our team’s going to win.
“And I was like, but what if there’s like a Catholic kid on the other team and he’s praying for the same thing,” Father Dolejsi continued. “And my mom was like, yeah, it’s better probably just to pray that everybody does their best and whatever God wants will be the case.”
A Hail Mary for the Hail Marys
Point taken, Father, but what about sinning if we ask God for a win? He suggested we turn to Mother Mary, like the Notre Dame football team, and ask her for a win … with a caveat.
“It is good to actually ask for Mary’s intercession in general. But what about the poor Patriots fan who’s on the other side? And they’re there, and they’re praying? ‘Oh, God, help us, the pain,’” explained Father Dolejsi. “Yes, you definitely can offer some prayers. That’s fine. Maybe in the same context, also pray for peace and countries of war and, you know, for respect for all life and all those things too.”
Another strong point, and perhaps we could have ended things on that note, but no — one more question.
What if we said the rosary, like 12 times? Would that move the religious meter for the Hawks?
“If we perfect what God has given us, and the Seahawks are well trained and they’re a good team together, and they are excellent in what their endeavor is, then God’s grace can work in the midst of that,” Dolejsi said. “So, if they’ve trained well, they practice well, and they do the best they can. We’ll see where the Holy Spirit goes.”
As long as the Holy Spirit goes to the end zone, right?
“We’ll be hoping so, man,” Dolejsi said with a laugh. “God’s got bigger fish to fry than, you know, as much as we want them to win.”
Whether it’s faith, fate, or just a wild coincidence — Seahawks fans aren’t complaining.
After all, the record is perfect so far.
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