Pope Francis prays for Maradona, remembers him 'with affection'

Arguably one of the greatest footballers in history, Diego Armando Maradona died Thursday at the age of 60.

The Argentine legend was at home, recovering from brain surgery and in rehabilitation for his alcoholism when he suffered a heart attack.

On Thursday evening, the Vatican released a statement on Pope Francis' reaction to the death of his compatriot.

"Pope Francis has been informed of the death of Diego Maradona, he looks back with affection on the opportunities for meeting [he had] in recent years and remembers him in prayer, as he has done in recent days since he learned of his health conditions". a Vatican spokesman told reporters Thursday.

In 2016, Maradona described himself as a man who had returned to his Catholic faith inspired by Pope Francis, and the pontiff received him at the Vatican multiple times as part of a larger group of players who played in the "Match for the peace ”, an initiative to promote interreligious dialogue and papal charity.

For many of the fans who mourned his passing, both in Argentina and in the Italian city of Naples, where he became a legend during the height of his career, Maradona occupied a special niche, calling him a god. Not a prophet or the reincarnation of some ancient football deity, but D10S (a game on the Spanish word dios for "God" incorporating Maradona's number 10 shirt).

He was reluctant to accept this confrontation, as shown in a 2019 HBO documentary, when he dismisses an Italian TV presenter who said, "Neapolitans have Maradona inside them more than God does."

The devotion many in Argentina had for Maradona - the government declared three days of mourning on Thursday - is perhaps only rivaled in Naples, one of the poorest cities in Italy: prayer cards with the local hero can probably be found in every taxi and city bus, murals showing his face are on buildings throughout the city, and there's also a Diego Maradona Miraculous Hair Shrine, complete with a small statue of Pope Francis and prayer cards from several local saints.

Maradona, a longtime supporter of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Nicolas Maduro, first spoke about Francis after his election in 2013, saying he wanted the head of the Catholic Church to move forward with reforms and transform the Vatican from "A lie" In an institution that gives more to people.

"A state like the Vatican must change to get closer to the people," Maradona told Neapolitan television Piuenne. “The Vatican, for me, is a lie because instead of giving to the people it takes away. All popes have done it and I don't want him to do it “.

In 2014 Maradona played in the first charity football match organized by the Vatican. During a press conference, he said: "Everyone in Argentina can remember" the hand of God "in England's match at the 1986 World Cup. Now, in my country, the" hand of God "has brought us an Argentine Pope".

(The "Hand of God" refers to the fact that Maradona's hand touched the ball when he scored against England, but the referee did not declare the goal void, angering the English fans.)

"Pope Francis is even bigger than Maradona," said Maradona. “We should all imitate Pope Francis. If each of us gave something to someone else, no one in the world would die of hunger “.

Two years later, Maradona credited Francis with the awakening of his faith and his return to the Catholic Church after meeting him in a private audience in the Vatican.

“When he hugged me, I thought about my mother and inside I prayed. I'm happy to be back in the Church, ”said Maradona at the time.

That same year, during a press conference ahead of the 2016 edition of the Vatican football match United for Peace, the soccer star said of Francesco: “He is doing a great job in the Vatican too, which pleases all Catholics. I had drifted away from the church for many reasons. Pope Francis made me come back “.

Many prominent Catholics took to Twitter to express their feelings after Maradona's death, including American Greg Burke, the former papal spokesman, who shared a video of the player's historic goal against England in the World Cup semi-finals. of 1986:

Bishop Sergio Buenanueva was among the first in the Argentine hierarchy to express his condolences on Twitter, simply writing "rest in peace", accompanied by the hashtag #DiegoMaradona and the photo of the player who lifts the World Cup in 1986, the last time that Argentina won the tournament.

Others, like the Jesuit Father Alvaro Zapata, from Spain, have written longer reflections on the life and loss of Maradona: “There was a time when Maradona was a hero. His fall into the abyss of addictions and his inability to get out of it tell us about the risks of a dream life ", he wrote in the blog" Pastoral SJ ".

“As much error should mythologize him as an exemplary person, as it should eliminate his memory for his falls. Today we have to thank the much good received for his talent, learn from his mistakes and also respect his memory without refueling for the fallen idol “.

Vatican News, the official news site of the Holy See, also published an article on Thursday, calling Maradona a "poet of football", and sharing fragments of a 2014 interview he gave to Vatican Radio, in which he described a football football as more powerful. of 100 weapons: "Sport is what makes you think that you will not harm others".