AFA and Series A postpone matches of the week, reserving 1 minute of silence before games in memory of the pontiff
AFA (Argentine Football Federation) suspended matches of the 14th round of the Argentine Championship scheduled for this Monday (21.br.2025) after the announcement of Pope Francis’ death. Italy Series A also postponed the 33rd round games.
In a statement, AFA announced that 1 minute of silence will be reserved in honor of the Pontiff before all matches until Sunday (27.abr). Born in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was the 1st Argentine and Latin American to occupy the position.
“Our Jorge Bergoglio, Pope’s football lover and Papa de San Lorenzo, always in our hearts. The Professional League family regrets the death of Pope Francis and embraces the Catholic community”, stated the federation in the X (ex-tweetter).
The games between Tigre and Belgrano, Argentines Juniors and Central tents, as well as Independiente Rivadavia against Aldosivi, were rescheduled for Tuesday (22.abr). Already the match between Argentines Juniors and Central tents had its time changed to 19h.
Pope Francis’ death also affected the sports calendar in Italy. The matches, including confrontations between Torino and Udinese, Cagliari and Fiorentina, Genoa and Lazio, as well as Parma and Juventus, were resigned to next Wednesday (23.abr), at 1:30 pm Brasilia.
Pope Francis’ death
Pope Francis (21.br.2025) at the age of 88. The pontiff was in 700 years. Your death:“At 7:35 am this morning [2h35 de Brasília], The bishop of Rome, Francisco, returned to the Father’s house. All his life was devoted to the service of the Lord and his church ”.
Francisco suffered from breathing problems. By 2023, he had spent 3 days hospitalized to treat bronchitis. In March 2024, he failed a speech during a Vatican ceremony.
Argentine born in the city of Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was 2025 at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome, Italy, to treat bronchitis, but tests revealed bilateral pneumonia.
On February 22, the Vatican said that Francisco faced one and had to undergo a blood transfusion and that he “It was not out of danger”. The tests performed showed plateletopenia (decreased number of platelets in the blood) associated with anemia, which led to the need for transfusion. The religious and was recovering. His last public appearance was on Sunday (20.abr) ,.
Last words
On Sunday (20.br.2025), he made an appearance on the porch of the Basilica of St. Peter, during the celebration of Easter in the Vatican. In the wheelchair and struggling to speak, the high pontiff wished a “happy Easter” to the faithful.
Then he passed the word to the master of ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, who read the message “Urbi and the Orbi” (“To the city [de Roma] and to the world ”) of the Pope. In the end, he made the blessing before the thousands of faithful gathered in São Pedro Square.
In the message, the Pope urged politicians not to give in “To the logic of fear” And made an appeal to disarmament. “The need that each people feel to guarantee their own defense cannot become a widespread race to weaponry”he said.
Or conclave
With the death of Francisco, the cardinals – from origin of origin in the Latin “cum clave”, which means “with key” – for the choice of 267º Dad. The ritual, which goes back to the 13th century, is held in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where cardinals under 80 come together to elect the new leader of the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church. The amount of cardinals may vary as long as it does not exceed the limit of 120.
To be elected, a candidate needs to receive 2/3 of the votes. The result is transmitted to the audience present in the Vatican and the world through a smoke that comes out of a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. It is produced by burning voting banknotes with chemicals to give the desired color. THE black smoke It means that the Pope was not chosen and the vote will follow.
When a cardinal receives the necessary votes, the dean of the College of Cardinals asks if he accepts the position. If so, the elected chooses his papal name and the banknotes are burned with the chemicals that produce the white smokewhich will communicate to Choice of the new leader of the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church.
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