This Wednesday (7) begins the conclave that will define the replacement of Francisco, the most connected pope with football. The next Pontiff will have to deal with the demand for a more palatable Catholic Church to the new generations, seeks that in the papacy ended last month, with the death of Francis, included the sport.
It was, of course, a central theme. But the appreciation of the Argentine – Nor San Lorenzo’s notorious fan – for football helped illustrate the search for a lighter and lighter church to the wishes of 21st century society. In 2019, for example, he blessed the Vatican’s first female team creation.
But the church connection with the ball was not started in this millennium. Vatican sports associations list as a historic episode a game of January 7, 1521, in the Belvedere courtyard, which had Pope Leo 10 in the audience. It was a match of “Calcio Florentino”, a brutal sport that is still played in Italy and is between football and rugby.
Football itself has its first records after World War II, ended eight decades ago. On April 13, 1946 there was a friendly between administrative officials and Vatican Governororato staff. The following year, a championship was organized among Santa Sé employees, with four teams.
But on the naked street, in the big stadiums or at the headquarters of the church, football is football. The climate warmed in the final, among the workers of the Pontifical Villages and those of the São Pedro factory, and a fight involving players and audiences prevented the end of the competition and caused a two -decades gap.
Clubs were founded from 1966, and a league took shape in 1972. The championship had different formats, but prospered, and today the Vatican, like much of the nations of tradition in football, has three competitions: a league, a pantry and a dispute between the winner of each of the previous ones, the Super Cup.
The events are organized by the ASD (Associazione Sportiva Dilettastica – Sport In Vatican), which in 2015 was no longer a soccer association and started to include other sports, such as athletics. The matches do not occur in the Vatican, the smallest sovereign state in the world, but right next door, in a field in which the St. Peter’s Basilica can be observed.
The Vatican also has a selection, which has made its first official match in 1994 and since then acts sporadically. The white and yellow team was punctually directed by Giovanni Cheattoni, a historic Italian coach, and established a kind of rivalry with Monaco, his opponent in a series of friendlies.
Players, Santa Sé employees, are not born in the Vatican, a rare sovereign state that is not affiliated with FIFA (International Football Federation). This does not prevent an institutional relationship, and the federation has recently promised to fulfill a wish of Pope Francis, a great charity game with worldwide stars of the sport.
“He was an amazing leader and a fan of our beautiful sport,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “In our last meeting, we shared the desire to organize a FIFA legends game: I can confirm that it will be played in September. Pope Francis was convinced that football could truly unite the world.”
In this effort, in addition to supporting the media Clericus Cup-which gathered seminarians from around the world for a championship in Rome and was interrupted in the covid-19 pandemic-Francisco gave his impetus to the formation of a female team in the Vatican. The premiere took place six years ago, in a friendly with the professional team of Roma.
“Even though the result is 30 to 0, it will not matter,” Danilo Zennaro, asd representative, said, predicting an inevitable imbalance, proven on the score of 10 to 0. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is creating connections and friendships. We had men’s teams for decades. It was fair that women who work at the Vatican had the chance to play.”
Pope from 2013 to 2025, Francisco got used to receiving sports delegations, always recording the “unifying power of sport” and pointing out that “victory begins in humility.” The practice was also recurring in the papacy of John Paul 2nd (1978-2005), which in 1984 welcomed São Paulo players in Italy for a friendly with Rome.
Another tricolor team, Fluminense, built an even deeper relationship with João Paulo 2º, who was in Brazil in 1980 and won a shirt of a ten -year -old boy. Shortly after the visit, Fluminense won the first round of the Carioca Championship on penalties, on top of Vasco, and the fans sang the song “The Blessing, João de Deus”.
Composed precisely for the Pope’s reception, the music of Pericles of Barros and Moacyr Geraldo Maciel has become quite popular. From the victory over Vasco in the first round-and the confirmation of the carioca title in the decision, also against Vasco-eventually became a tricolor mantra, sung in times of distress or euphoria.
One of these moments occurred in 2009, when mathematicians pointed 99% of risk of relegation in the Brazilian Championship. The drag that avoided the fall was pointed out by the fans as “an obvious miracle” of João. It thought Igor Viviani, the little boy who had delivered the shirt to João Paulo 2nd in 1980 and who, in 2010, as director of Fluminense, officialized the Polish as official patron saint of the club.
Corinthians has St. George as a patron saint, but had to appeal to another Pope to preserve his worship. The fans bittered a fasting of titles that was already approaching 15 years in 1969, when they gained a new reason for despair. In an episode known as “Cassation of Santos”, Paulo 6th promoted a reordering of the liturgical calendar, and names such as St. George’s, celebrated in just a few regions of the planet, ceased to be part of the official list.
Then the Corinthian Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, who would soon become archbishop of São Paulo and Cardinal, sought the Pope. According to his report in the book “Corinthian thanks to God!”, In an audience with Paul 6th, he said: “Holy Father, our people are not understanding the question. St. George is very popular in Brazil, especially among the huge fans of Corinthians, the most popular club of São Paulo.”
“We cannot harm neither England nor Corinthians,” said the Pope, according to the Brazilian, noting that the holy warrior is also a patron of the English and ordering his inclusion in their calendars and Brazilians. “Otherwise, we will be guilty of a mistake.”
It is clear, believe me or not in every word in the account of Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, that faith and football are far from incompatible, in Catholicism or other religions. As noted in 2010 Monsignor Claudio Paganini, who at the time was acting as director of Clericus Cup, “If you go to Mass at ten, have lunch and then go to the field, there is time for everything.”
