In a television interview with Canale 5 from Italy, and recorded before the Qatar 2022 World Cup final, Pope Francis dedicated a few words to whoever won. Finally, without his knowledge, the trophy went to his country of origin: Argentina.
The interview was broadcast on Italian television on the night of Sunday, December 18, hours after Argentina and France played the decisive match of Qatar 2022.
After drawing 3-3 in regulation time, Argentina won the cup by dominating penalty kicks.
When asked about the issue, the Holy Father addressed a message to whoever won: “All congratulate the winners,” the Pontiff acknowledged, then called for them to “live it with humility.”
“And to those who don’t win, live it with joy, because the greatest value is not winning or not winning, it’s playing fair, playing well,” he said.
“That both of them have the courage to shake hands,” he encouraged, recalling that in his youth he would go to the field every Sunday with his family, and outside of what happened on the playing field, “later the game ended and they gave each other hand”.
“That savoir-faire (NdR: “know how”, in French) of sport, right? Sport makes you more noble, it also makes you noble when you play a rag ball, ”he assured.
Despite being a big soccer fan and a member of the Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro, Pope Francis did not watch the match on television because of an old promise made to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
“I haven’t watched television since 1990,” he said in an interview in 2015. “It’s a promise I made to the Virgen del Carmen on the night of July 15, 1990,” he explained.