Yahoo – AFP,
Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 10 July 2014
Vatican
City (AFP) - Football-mad Pope Francis "might" watch the World Cup
final on Sunday between his native Argentina and Germany but is unlikely to do
so alongside his German predecessor Benedict XVI contrary to media speculation,
the Vatican said.
"He
might want to watch the final," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said
of Francis, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio -- a fan
and card-carrying member of the San Lorenzo de Almagro club since childhood.
But a
Vatican source said he "excluded categorically" the prospect of pope
emeritus Benedict XVI, an academic theologian with a penchant for classical
piano, sitting down in front of his television set to watch the face-off.
"It's
really not his thing, he is not a fan. It would be like inflicting an infinite
penitence on him at the age of 87," the source said, adding: "He has
never been able to watch a football match from beginning to end in his
life".
Benedict
did like to keep informed on football results while he was pope and could at
least comment on the big matches but he did not follow his home team, Bayern
Munich.
That has
not prevented a few jokes from doing the rounds in the Vatican ahead of the big
game at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana.
Father
Thomas Rosica, a member of the Vatican communications, quipped in a tweet:
"Unconfirmed reports in Italian media: large quantities of mate and Fanta
delivered to Vatican for private event Sunday" -- a reference to the
famous Argentine tipple and the German fizzy drink.
'There
would be a war!'
The
contrast could not be greater between Benedict and Francis, who is regularly
updated on the activities of San Lorenzo and a team delegation came to the
Vatican in December to give him their trophy after they won the national
championship.
They also
gave him the club's red-and-blue team colours with the words "Francisco
Campeon" (Francis Champion) written on the back and the goalkeeper's
gloves -- used in a save that helped them win the tournament.
When he
does his weekly tours of St Peter's Square on his "popemobile" before
general audiences, the 77-year-old pontiff is regularly pelted with football
jerseys and he has extolled the virtues of sport as a spiritual activity.
While the
Vatican said Italian media reports about a "two popes final" are off
the mark, its own official daily -- the Osservatore Romano -- earlier this
month predicted that Argentine and Germany would reach the final.
In an
unusual article for the normally conservative paper, former player Tommaso
Damiani, a staunch Catholic, said that "there could be a final that will
go down in history because of its unusual supporters" -- Francis and
Benedict.
Ahead of
the final, Italy's RaiNews made a photomontage with a real image of the two
popes kneeling side by side -- except that each is depicted praying for their
own team.
Conscious
of his role as head of the Catholic Church around the world, Francis himself
has been careful not to make any predictions about the World Cup or to reveal
his passion.
There was
one slip earlier in the tournament, however.
The Vatican
affairs news agency I.Media reported that when a group of the Vatican's Swiss
Guards invited him to watch the Argentina-Switzerland game in their barracks,
he declined the offer saying: "There would be a war!"
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