Pope Francis did not watch his native Argentina play
Germany in the World Cup final as “a matter of neutrality,” the
Vatican’s chief of ceremonies Guillermo Karcher said Monday.
Francis is known as a lifelong football fan and card-carrying
member of Argentine club San Lorenzo, but Karcher said he did not
even tune in to see the nail-biting final in Brazil, which Germany
won 1-0 in extra time.
“The pope was updated on the World Cup but said he wasn’t going
to watch it as a matter of neutrality,” Karcher, one of Francis’s
closest associates, told Argentine broadcaster Radio del Plata.
“We kept him informed play by play. We’re happy and continue to
support the team.”
Karcher, who is also Argentine, worked with the pope — then
named Jorge Bergoglio — when he was archbishop of Buenos
Aires.
The pope stuck to the neutrality principle ahead of the match,
limiting himself to a comment about the importance of intercultural
exchange on Twitter.
“The World Cup allowed people from different countries and
religions to come together. May sport always promote the culture
of encounter,” he wrote Saturday on his @pontifex account.
There had been much speculation before the final about whether
Francis would watch it with his German predecessor, pope
emeritus Benedict XVI.
But it appears neither watched the match.
Close associates of Benedict say he dislikes football and prefers
theology and piano music to sports.
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