Between passion and divinity: Francisco, the “pope of football” who carries San Lorenzo in his heart

(“Francis. Ten Years of the Latin American Pope” can be downloaded for free from BajaLibros by clicking here)

“You should ask Francisco”. It was August 14, 2014, Saint Laurent He played the second leg against Nacional at home and for the first time in history he could become champion of the Libertadores Cup.

There is a custom among fans and players which is respected with the force of a commandment, a taboo. No one, absolutely no one, under any circumstances can say before the match is played that their team is going to win. It is a mandate that everyone respects, from the most cabaleros to those who believe in nothing. Although there are almost none of these.

When it comes to football, we all end up indulging in wishful thinking. The immediate consequence of talking too much is to make fun of the team and take away their chances of victory. And the one who spoke ends up being labeled as yeta, as salt, as stone —it itches—. It happened recently with a player who, with two or three dates left to play, said he was going to win the League and with the end result fans named him as one of the main culprits. of defeat.

So that day, with sleep so close, no one wanted to be part of the curse. The television covered the preview of the match and asked people close to the stadium their feelings, their feelings, their intuitions, their illusions, their promises. The result in Paraguay it had been 1-0 in favor of the hosts, it didn’t seem impossible to turn things around – and in the end it did: San Lorenzo won, finishing with a 2-1 aggregate. No one wanted to say the forbidden word, but there was a shared feeling that they were playing to God’s advantage: the pope was a Cyclone fan.

The history of San Lorenzo de Almagro is linked to that of its partner number 88.235N-0. The previous year, the team was fighting not to be relegated – he was saved Caruso Lombardi– but in the few months that Bergoglio had been pope, the “Francois effecthad produced a remarkable change in the spirit of the club, which had not only won the local tournament and the cup with authority, but had received a flood of new members from all over the world who wanted to belong to its team —Novak Djokovic between them-. San Lorenzo, moreover, had been able to incur a debt of a million dollars and was beginning to project the long-awaited return to its place of origin, to Inclán and Av. La Plata.

-What’s going on with saint laurent! an Israeli journalist told him in 2014.

—Since they have my face on the jersey, they win everything.

But before the pope, there was another priest. The club takes its name from the priest Lorenzo Massa, which gave them a place to play football after a fatal accident on the railway tracks, and when these boys founded the club in 1908, in thanks to Massa, they elevated it to the rank of saint. The colors of the shirt also have a religious origin: they are a more intense version of those of the coat of Mary Help of Christians —blue and pink—

Massa was a Salesian and Jorge Bergoglio studied in a school of this congregation, but his love for the club has a strictly sporting origin: he was nine years old when the team Punctual, Martino there silva He was champion in 1946, after a series of victories against Boca, River, Racing, Platense, Lanús (they scored five goals), Atlanta (they scored six) and Rosario Central (seven!). Has he seen the photo of that year Avoided with the Cyclone shirt?

Until he was elected pope, several early April, the anniversary of the founding of San Lorenzo, Bergoglio celebrated mass in the club’s chapel. He also liked to give mass at Olympic Village: from the pulpit I could see the stadium New gasometer. In 2008, the year of the centenary, the archbishop of Buenos Aires at the time gave mass at the Saint Anthony’s Oratorya symbolically very strong place, because this is where the club was founded.

The pope has thousands of photos with different personalities. From presidents to singers, from businessmen to golfers. With the world of sport and, in particular, with football players, which is the subject that summons us, it has an infinite series. Be with Messicon Gianlucca Buffoncon Javier Zanettiwith the Lazio and Roma teams, with Blattercon Tevez. And, of course, with historic San Lorenzo players: The pass, rogerhe Gallego Gonzalez. Also with lammens there Marcelo Tinelli —president and vice-president of the American champion of San Lorenzo—, who gave him a jersey with the inscription “Francisco Campeón”. There is a promotion club called Sport Pope Francisbut the players have still not been able to meet their patron.

I have the memory, which may be wrong, but in any case it seems credible to me, that during one of his walks through the Vatican, while Bergoglio and Francisco were greeting the faithful, someone approached him with a Boca shirt to ask him to bless her and he, quick reflexes, walked away as if he had seen a demon. But it was a Boca shirt, not Independiente.

The Peronist pope and absurdly Argentine football fan said he was going to be neutral at the 2014 World Cup. He didn’t watch the final with Joseph Ratzinger —Benedict XVI—, but the film the two popes fantasize about meeting. Anthony Hopkins plays Benedict; Jonathan Price of Francois.

The two share an armchair in front of the television and watch this game which, if VAR had existed, could have had a different result. Two nuns bring them food and Francisco urges them to leave, as the final begins. “there you are”, says Benedicto, amazed by an Argentine flag which instead of the sun has the face of Francisco. The two popes are in white, but Francisco also has a scarf in the colors of his team.

Looking at this scene and this little scarf, I keep thinking of another scene, that of The secret of his eyes. Francella and Darín ponder how to find a murderer who still eludes them. They circle around the subject until Francella realizes the place to catch her is the soccer field. Races. “The guy can change everything: his face, his house, his family, his girlfriend, his religion, his god. But there is one thing that cannot change. You can’t change your passion.”

If it is unimaginable that Bergoglio ceases to be the pope of the Catholics, it is even more inconceivable to believe that he could cease to be ass. The producers of the Netflix movie were right with the costumes: Jonathan Pryce’s scarf is azulgrana and says San Lorenzo. Pope Francis watches the final at the Maracanã and Jorge Bergoglio dreams of the afternoon at the old Gasometer.

The film continues and Benedicto complains about the violent crimes and, while the television shows the bloodied face of Bastian SchweinsteigerFrancois says:It’s a scratch, it’s a scratch!”. They drink beer – several – and argue like two fans in a bar. The match ends and Francisco doesn’t watch anything in silence. The other pats him on the back in a gesture of fatherly consolation that anyone else, if he hadn’t been Pope, would have rebuffed.

The World Cup final took place on July 13. A month later, the Libertadores were played. They say that that night, Bergoglio asked the Swiss Guard soldiers all the time to tell him how the game was going.

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