Football friendly: A spiritual dimension

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is known as a keen football fan, so there was great excitement all round on Tuesday when the Holy Father met with players of the Italian and Argentinean national teams.

The meeting in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican came on the eve of a friendly match between the two teams which will take place in Rome.

“The Pope is very interested in football because he is a fan of football, he is a fan of sport. In fact the Pope is a fan in particular of the team of Buenos Aires de Almagro”, says Max Castellani from Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference.

He also adds that Wednesday’s friendly has a spiritual dimension. “The importance of the match is spiritual because many of the players of the two teams are very religious”. Listen to Lydia O’Kane interview with Max Castellani