The Pope and football

Maradona presenting his Argentinian shirt to Pope Francis

Pope Francis remembers his days as a youth when he and his friends pulled off ‘miracles’ playing football in the streets of Buenos Aires, using a ball made from rags and a surging adrenaline. Now 84, the Argentine Pope remembers the joy and happiness on everyone’s faces after the 1946 victory of his Buenos Aires favorite  team, San Lorenzo. He said that ‘leather cost too much and we were poor,  rubber wasn’t used much yet, but a ball of rags was enough to amuse ourselves and create miracles, playing in the little square near home.’ Acknowledging he was not among the best football players, Bergoglio played as a goalkeeper, which he characterized as a good school for learning how to respond to dangers that could arrive from anywhere. He also insisted on a good sense of collaboration by saying ‘you either play together or you risk crashing. That’s how small groups, capable of staying united, succeed in taking down bigger teams incapable of working together.’ He recalled meeting recently-deceased Argentine footballer Maradona in 2014, whom he called ‘a poet in the field, a great champion who brought joy to millions, in Argentina and Naples, where he played for a few years. He was also a fragile man.’ Pope Francis also showed amazement and emotion at the accomplishments of the athletes who compete in the Paralympic Games. ‘Sport,’ he said, ‘was marked by the efforts of so many of those who with sweat on their brow beat those born with talent in their pockets. The poor thirst for redemption: give them a book, a pair of shoes, a ball and they show themselves capable of unimaginable achievements.’