I was thrilled when I learned that my old Villanova University classmate Robert Prevost is the new Pope. Since his election, I’ve been asked by everybody how well I knew Bobby—whether I hung out with him, or if we partied together. l think it would be wildly inappropriate to share any specific personal interactions we had, but I can reveal we had much in common back in the day.
We both went to Kelly’s Bar for a beer or two. Every Villanova student did. It was part of the core curriculum. When a Villanova student says they graduated with a 3.0, they mean blood alcohol. I’ll never forget when I first showed up there with a fake ID saying I was 21. They looked at it carefully, looked at me, looked again and waved me in. I was 5 years old.
We both were and are extremely confident. Bobby because somehow he knew, even back then, that one day he would speak from the chair of Saint Peter and be considered infallible; me, because as a first-born Jewish son, I had been told from birth by my Mom I was in fact infallible.
And of course we had something very personal in common. Bobby took an oath to be celibate, while I was unable to get laid my entire four years there. I was the original incel—quite an achievement given there were three all women’s schools within five miles of campus.
Despite having so much in common, we went on have two wildly different careers—one of us doing the Lord’s work and Bobby becoming Pope—but truth is, those years as Villanova Wildcats shaped our lives.
For one thing, it clearly ingrained in us good Catholic values. The future Pope committed himself to faith, love, compassion and service, respecting the dignity of every human being and promoting the common good. I became a political consultant.
At Villanova we were taught to respect our elders. Leo XIV has always been respectful of our aging seniors. I am a huge Madonna fan.
At Villanova we learned how to respect and listen to our beloved Augustinian priests for guidance. The Pope took from that how a father figure could change people’s lives. It led me to sign up for SugarDaddy.com—if it worked for Bill Belichick, it can work for me.
And when one is part of a faith-based college culture like we were on the Villanova campus, you leave prepared to spend the rest of your life believing that miracles can happen. And yes, I deeply believe in miracles. For in the years since graduating I have personally witnessed three of them:
- The 2018 Superbowl Philly Special when the underdog Eagles defeated Satan’s team.
- I once saw Joe Biden awake at 9 p.m.
- And for one brief moment, and it could have been my eyes, but I think it actually happened: Last Tuesday, Donald Trump and his wife Melania were actually in the same room at the same time.
So there it is, all you need to know about the Pope and me…coming to Pluto TV this fall.
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