Maradona was great, Messi Lord, but Pele was a man of the heart
His predecessor loved Mozart but the passion of the Pope Francis It was football, the most beautiful game and also a way to educate and spread peace around the world. From Argentine compatriots Lionela Messi and the late Diego Maradone by Zlatana Ibrahimovic Francis in the Vatican received the biggest football stars who signed dozens of T -shirts and balls.
Pope Francis often told how, as a young boy on the streets of Buenos Aires, he played with a tsunam ball, the French AFP news agency wrote.
Although he acknowledged that he was « not among the best » and that « he had two left legs », he often played in a goalkeeping position, which, in his words, was a good way to learn to respond to « dangers that could come from anywhere. »
His love for football was inseparable from his loyalty to the San Lorenzo club from Buenos Aires, where he went to watch matches with his father and brothers.
« It was romantic football, » he recalled.
He maintained his membership in the club even after he became a pope – and caused a minor excitement in his homeland when he received a member of Boca Juniors as part of the Vatican Educational Partnership.
Francis was constantly up to date with the advancement of the parent club thanks to one of the Vatican Swiss Guardists, who regularly left him on the table and the league table.
Football is often compared to religion, they wrote at AFPAnd Francis often had many giant masses on football stadiums while traveling abroad.
Bishop of France Emmanuel Gobilliardthe Vatican Delegate for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, said that the pope understands the key role of football.
« Are you an amateur or professional footballer or like to watch him on television is no difference: this sport is part of people’s lives, » he told AFP.
Francentine Jesuit, despite his money and corruption, also saw football as a way of spreading peace and education despite his money and corruption.
Football was the passion of Pope Francis and football players was his deities. The compatriot Diego Maradona « burned » only as a man. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP
In 2014, the Olympic Stadium in Rome hosted a « bear » peace match at his initiative.
“Many say football is the most beautiful game in the world. I think so, « said Francis in 2019, who, in 2013, when he addressed the Italian and Argentine teams, recalled the players of their » social responsibility « and warned them from excesses in professional football.
The Pope’s love for the game was also inspired Benedict XVI. and the then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio They watch the 2014 World Cup finals between their countries, Germany and Argentina.
It was a purely fiction, as the future Pope Francis in 1990 – when the then West Germany beat Argentina in the Mundial final in Italy – abandoned television watching, while his predecessor preferred classical music and reading.
Francis never mentioned the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, which took place in the middle of the dictatorship. The entire chapter in his 2024 autobiography was dedicated to Maradona, whose infamous goal with the « Hand of God » helped Argentina beat England in the 1986 World Cup.
« When I accepted Maradona in the Vatican a few years ago as a pope, I jokingly asked him, ‘So, which one is my hand?’, » He said last year.
While he wore his attachment to San Lorenzo on his sleeve, he tried to avoid supporting any other club or national team. In 2022, before the World Cup final between France and Argentina in Qatar, he urged the winner to celebrate the victory with « humility ».
And when the Pope once asked who was the greatest player in history, Maradona or Lionel Messi, the pope replied differently.
“As a player, Maradona was great. But as a man, he failed, « said Francis, who had in mind for decades of fighting an Argentine football star with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
Messi, however Penwho was « a man of the heart » for him.
