Pope Francis, born in Argentina and deceased on Monday, is being honored at the soccer club of his hometown in Buenos Aires, San Lorenzo de Almagro, where the head of the Roman Catholic Church, a football lover, remained a member during his 12 years of papacy.
First division club fans began to meet on Monday at the club’s chapel in the southwest of the Argentine capital to say goodbye to their best known member.
“The Pope leaves an unbreakable legacy,” San Lorenzo president Marcelo Moretti told Reuters. “For all San Lorenzo fans, he was a source of great pride. It’s a very sad day.”
In the chapel, the fans lit candles near a Francisco statue adorned with the team’s red and navy colors.
San Lorenzo fans used social media after the Pope’s death news to point out that his club’s partner number-88235n -0-coincided exactly with his age and the time of death.
“He died at age 88 at 2:35 am (Buenos Aires time) and was partner 88235. It really caught my attention,” wrote a San Lorenzo fan at X.
Continues after advertising
The club confirmed the Pope’s partner number to Reuters.
Special commemorative shirts will be worn in Saturday’s match against Rosario Central, said Moretti, with players waiting to secure the victory for the pontiff, whose funeral will be held at the Vatican the same day.
Several other Argentine teams suspended matches on Monday in respect of respect.
Continues after advertising
Oscar Lucchini, who manages the club’s chapel, showed the Reuters Old photos of Francisco holding a San Lorenzo shirt, as well as a printed copy of his club’s partner. Laura Magrino, Lucchini’s colleague, held a team shirt made in honor of the Pope.
“Great emotion”
Moretti said he met Francisco several times, the last of them last September, to ask permission to name a new stadium in the Bededo neighborhood, where the club is headquartered.
“He accepted, with great emotion,” Moretti told Reuters.
Continues after advertising
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in a family of Italian migrants in Buenos Aires in 1936, at a time when football had already become Argentina’s most popular sport, author Jimmy Burns, Francisco’s biographer.
Football was especially popular in the less wealthy neighborhoods of Buenos Aires through clubs such as San Lorenzo, founded by a Catholic priest in 1908 and was the team chosen by Francisco in childhood.
The club became the 1946 champion, said Moretti, getting several impressive victories during a European tour the following year, which caught international attention to the team.
Continues after advertising
Francisco became a life fan for a lifetime, although he rarely played in his youth due to health problems.
“He tended to read more than playing sports,” Burns told Reuters, but would like to watch live games at San Lorenzo or watch an occasional World Cup match on TV.
After becoming Pope in 2013, Francisco never returned to Argentina, but received many of the country’s biggest names in the Vatican, including Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona football icons. The sport is a great level, said Francis once.
Continues after advertising
Maradona, who died in 2020, said Pope Francis had restored his Catholic faith after they met in 2014. Later, Messi had his own papal audience, from which he said that he also came out spiritually renewed.
