Supporters wave a flag showing both Pope Francis and the crest San Lorenzo Soccer Club. The late pontiff was a strong supporter of soccer and proclaimed his loyalty to San Lorenzo multiple times. Photo © Pablo Hidalgo | Dreamstime.com
Amid the outpouring of grief for, and tributes to, Pope Francis following his death on April 21 were recollections of the pontiff’s proclivity for sports and the constructive, unifying role they play in an increasingly fraying, divided world.
“With the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, we are losing a great friend and supporter of the Olympic Movement,” International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). “His support for the peace and solidarity mission of the Olympic Games and the many refugee initiatives of the IOC has been unwavering.”
Bach and the Pope met multiple times, according to InsideTheGames.biz, most recently at the Vatican in January to discuss the achievements of the Refugee Olympic Team, which won its first gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
“I came to know His Holiness as a thoughtful intellectual, humble, with a wonderful sense of humor,” Bach told the Olympic news website. “His deep passion for sport and the Olympic values was always evident.”
Pope Francis, the first Latin American to be elected head of the Catholic Church, died of a stroke that put him in a coma and led to heart failure at age 88, according to the Vatican. The previous day, Easter Sunday, he had blessed thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
The Italian National Olympic Committee called for all sports around the country to be suspended on Saturday, April 26, the day of the Pope’s funeral. That included three top-tier Serie A soccer games. All soccer matches in Italy were postponed the day of his death, too, as were matches in Argentina, where Francis was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires before he was elected Pope in 2013.
Even before his passing, Pope Francis remained on the minds of sports and event organizers. In March, more than 30,000 runners in the Rome Marathon participated in 42 seconds of silence for the Pope, who at the time had been undergoing treatment for double pneumonia at Gemelli Hospital in Rome. The 42 seconds represented the marathon’s 42-kilometer distance. Marathon spokesperson Herbert Thomas told Reuters that Pope Francis usually would support the runners during the Angelus (a Catholic prayer typically recited three times a day).
Pope Francis viewed sports as ministry. In June 2014, when St. Peter’s Square was turned into a giant youth sports playing field for one day, he told an enthusiastic crowd that to be part of a sports team “means to reject all forms of selfishness and isolation.” He also referred to such participation as “an opportunity to meet and be with others, to help each other, to compete in mutual esteem and grow in brotherhood.”
He also encouraged young athletes that day to “put yourselves in the game [of life], in the search for good, in the Church and in society, without fear, with courage and enthusiasm. Don’t content yourselves with a mediocre ‘tie.’ Give the best of yourselves, spending your lives for that which is truly valuable and that which lasts forever.”
Perhaps no sport was closer to Pope Francis’ holy heart than soccer. He was a literal card-carrying member of San Lorenzo de Almagro, a Buenos Aires soccer club that plays in the first tier of Argentina’s Primera División, and the club once tweeted a photo of then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (the name he held prior to becoming Pope Francis) proudly holding up the team’s crest.
“San Lorenzo performed well after Francis was elected as the 266th pope in March 2013,” the AP reported. “The team won a national title in 2013 and claimed the Copa Libertadores for the first time a year later. Club officials traveled twice to the Vatican carrying trophies to thank Francis for his support.”
Current San Lorenzo players will wear commemorative jerseys for their match on April 26, the day of the pontiff’s funeral in Rome. And the club’s new stadium, years in the works, likely will be called Estadio Papa Francisco, according to reports.
And, according to Inside The Games, the team wasted no time issuing a statement honoring the pontiff, whom they affectionately termed, "Captain Francis."
FIFA President Gianni Infantino posted on Instagram that he “was privileged enough to spend some time with [the Pope] on a couple of occasions, and he always shared his enthusiasm for football and stressed the important role our sport plays in society. All the prayers of the whole football world are with him.”
Real Madrid echoed that sentiment, posting on Instagram that “during his pontificate, characterized by the scale of his immense legacy, Pope Francis has represented an enormous spirit of solidarity and support for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people.”
Perhaps Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer superstar who plays for both the Argentina National Team and Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami, put it best when he posted a simple message on social media: “RIP Pope Francis. Thank you for making the world a better place. We will miss you.”
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