--- description: Members of the Harlem Globetrotters presented the Pope with a custom uniform with the name “Pope Francis” and the number 90. title: Pope Francis Gets a Custom Jersey From the Harlem Globetrotters image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte68a91dfbd54e413/6987ee918e06012a0745e7a7/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Vatican](/tag/vatican/) ## Vatican Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pope Francis Gets a Custom Jersey From the Harlem Globetrotters  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 6, 2015 1:18 PM CUT  Pope Francis smiles as he plays with a ball next to a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team during the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 6, 2015. Pope Francis smiles as he plays with a ball next to a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team during the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 6, 2015.Giampiero Sposito—Reuters  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 6, 2015 1:18 PM CUT The Harlem Globetrotters have a new star: Pope Francis. Members of the exhibition basketball team presented the Pope with a custom jersey, showing the name “Pope Francis” and the number 90, on Wednesday at the Vatican, [according to reports](http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/05/06/pope%5Ffrancis%5Fmeets%5Fthe%5Fharlem%5Fglobetrotters/1142042 "undefined"). Team members showed off a few moves for the public waiting for an audience with the Pope before their own meeting. Pope Francis isn’t the first Pope to hang out with the Globetrotters, who are in Italy as part of an international tour. Pope John Paul II [met the team in 2000](http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82029 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/"},"headline":"Pope Francis Gets a Custom Jersey From the Harlem Globetrotters","datePublished":"2015-05-06T13:18:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:58:03.222Z","description":"He isn't the first Pope to hang out with the Globetrotters","url":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/","keywords":["Vatican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte68a91dfbd54e413/6987ee918e06012a0745e7a7/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte68a91dfbd54e413/6987ee918e06012a0745e7a7/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis smiles as he plays with a ball next to a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team during the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican","caption":"Pope Francis smiles as he plays with a ball next to a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team during the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican","creditText":"Giampiero Sposito—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/vatican/","name":"Vatican"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/","name":"Pope Francis Gets a Custom Jersey From the Harlem Globetrotters"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2013 Person of the Year: Pope Francis Reimagines the Papacy","description":"From his comments on gays to his penchant for Twitter, Pope Francis's every move has garnered strong reactions from the world media.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aYRnrfUV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aYRnrfUV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/","duration":"PT3M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3848391/pope-francis-harlem-globetrotters/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```