Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the Argentine Cardinal, who resides in the Vatican and is currently Prefect Emeritus of the Department for the Oriental Churches, revealed to the Italian media that Pope Francis was “the first of the happy” before the triumph of the Argentina team in the Qatar World Cup 2022 after 36 years.
“This morning, the Pope was the first to be happy,” the Argentine cardinal assured the Italian news agency ANSA on 19 December, one day after the team led by Lionel Messi won on penalties against the French national team.
“Of course, we talked about the issue with the Pope. We are all very happy about Argentina’s victory in the World Cup final”, the Cardenal specified.
“The Pope warned about the values of sport because something must emerge from these events, brotherhood, the courage also for sporting suffering,” added Sandri.
In a television interview given by Pope Francis to the Italian Channel 5 on the eve of the final match, he asked those who won the World Cup to “live it with humility”, and urged them to “grow up” their sportsmanship.
“And to those who do not win, live it with joy because the greatest value is not winning or not winning, it is playing fair, playing well,” encouraged the Holy Father.
“I hope that this world championship helps to resume the sporting spirit, which makes you noble,” he concluded.
Pope Francis is a soccer fan. He practiced it in his youth in Buenos Aires and is a supporter of the San Lorenzo club from Buenos Aires.
Due to a promise to the Virgen del Carmen, he has not watched television since 1990, so he never saw Messi play and this is the first final of the three won by Argentina that he could not see: the previous one had been in 1986.