News
Pope Francis: The Football Fan
Pope Francis with a jersey of his team
Uganda is blessed! Pope Francis will be the third Pontiff to visit us. No other country in Africa has had such a privilege. The Holy Father is coming to celebrate with us the 50th Anniversary of the canonization of the Uganda Martyrs, whose blood has been the seed of Christianity in Uganda.
With the Pope visiting Uganda on the 27th November The Sunrise sports team is peeking into the Sports side of the Pontiff.
Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is not above the passion his countrymen share for football and is an avid supporter of San Lorenzo, one of Argentina’s top clubs.
Bergoglio, who took the name Pope Francis when he was elected Pope, received his San Lorenzo membership card after saying mass at a sports complex near the team’s stadium.
“He says he lives in a permanent state of suffering for San Lorenzo,” said Oscar Lucchini, an architect and fellow fan who handed Bergoglio’s membership card to him after that mass about four years ago.
Last year the club posted a picture on its website that showed a smiling Bergoglio hoisting the club’s colours.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was known for his unassuming lifestyle. He lived near San Lorenzo’s headquarters and was a regular traveler through the capital city by public bus.
He always shares the pain of his fellow San Lorenzo fans whenever they are defeated, as well as their joy when the team wins. The club last won Argentina’s national championship in 2007.
Pope Francis being a San Lorenzo fan is perhaps fitting. The club was named after a local priest Father Lorenzo Massa, who let children play football in his Church’s yard so they wouldn’t have to do it in dangerous streets.
Even Donald Trump supports San Lorenzo
Real Estate Mogul and Republican politician Donald Trump is reportedly a prominent supporter of San Lorenzo and recently it was reported that he was plotting a bid to buy the Argentinian football club.
That’s according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, who claims Trump and his business partner Alessandro Proto have a vested interest in the 2014 Copa Libertadores winners
San Lorenzo stadium in Argentina to be named after Pope
San Lorenzo, one of the oldest teams in the Argentina, is planning to build a new stadium in Boedo, a working-class neighbourhood in the Argentine capital.
The new venue will be constructed on land which had been seized from the club during the time of military rule 1976-1983.
The team moved to the Pedro Bidegain stadium, also referred to as Nuevo Gasometro (New Gasometre), in 1993, but fans have campaigned for a return to their historic grounds for years
About San Lorenzo de Almagro
According to Wikipedia, Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine sports club based in the Flores neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The area is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the top division of the Argentine football league.
San Lorenzo is also considered one of the “big five” (“Los 5 Grandes”) ranked by Argentine media with Independiente, River Plate, Boca Juniors, and Racing Club.
Founded: 1908
Avenida de Mayo 1373, San Lorenzo
Capital Federal, Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Country: Argentina
Comments
