By CatholicPhilly Staff • Posted November 6, 2026
See scenes from the Eternal City Tip-Off weekend in Rome, including Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez’s private audience with Pope Leo XIV and an Oct. 31 Mass he celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica for the Villanova University and University of Notre Dame communities. (Photos courtesy of Villanova University, Vatican Media, and Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez.)

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez celebrates a private mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. (Villanova University)

(Villanova University)

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez and Rev. Robert P. Hagan, O.S.A., team chaplain, with the Villanova men’s basketball team. (Villanova University)

Villanova students, faculty, staff and alumni at the private mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. (Villanova University)

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez with the University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team.

From left, Fr. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame; Fr. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., president of Villanova University; Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez; Fr. Joseph Lawrence Farrell, O.S.A.; two fellow clergy; and, at far right, Fr. Robert P. Hagan, O.S.A., prior provincial of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, pose for a photo Oct. 31 in Rome during the Eternal City Tip-Off weekend.

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez and former Villanova University men’s basketball coach Jay Wright and his wife, Patricia, pose for a photo Oct. 31 in Rome during the Eternal City Tip-Off weekend.

(Vatican Media)

(Vatican Media)

(Vatican Media)
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