Pope Francis prays for football legend Diego Maradona

Nov 28, 2020

VATICAN: The world is mourning legendary Argentine soccer champion Diego Maradona, who died Nov 26, at the age of 60, from heart failure. Winning the World Cup in 1986 was the zenith of Diego Maradona’s career. In the quarter finals of that match he infuriated the England Team, with his ‘Hand of God’ goal, yet minutes later left them in awe and wonderment, with the greatest goal of all time, carving a swathe through the English midfield and defence, beating six English players and slotting in the goal past the despairing arms of goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Diego met Pope Francis on a number of occasions, most notably Sept 4, 2014 at the Casa Santa Marta, before a charity match. They met again a year later, in connection with the Pope’s Scholas Occurrents worldwide movement for young people.

Pope Francis had been praying for Diego during his recent health problems and surgery to remove a brain clot.

Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said that the “Pope recalls with affection the times [he and Maradona] met in recent years, and remembers him in prayer, as he has done in recent days after learning of his poor health.”

Brazilian legend Pele has led the tributes to Maradona, saying: “I lost a great friend and the world lost a legend. May God give strength to family members. One day I hope we can play ball together in the sky.”

Gary Lineker, who was in the England team during that historic match, wrote in Twitter: “Diego was by some distance the best player of my generation and arguably the greatest of all time... After a blessed but troubled life, hopefully he’ll finally find some comfort in the hands of God. #RipDiego.”

Watch the 2014 meeting of Diego Maradona with Pope Francis here: www. youtube.com/watch?v=a7jxOoLwl4 — Vatican News