Former Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona gestures from a balcony as he attends the Argentine First Division soccer match between Boca Juniors and Quilmes at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires on July 18, 2015. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Marcos Brindicci *Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-POPE-MARADONA, originally transmitted on Oct. 11, 2016.
ROME (RNS) Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona says it was the influence of his countryman Pope Francis that revived his faith and brought him back to the Catholic Church.
The 55-year-old Maradona is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and is joining some of the world’s other top players, including Brazilians Ronaldinho and Felipe Anderson as well as Italian player Francesco Totti, at the pope’s benefit soccer match to be held in Rome on Wednesday (Oct. 12).
“I am with Pope Francis, for him I am always available,” Maradona told a news conference this week.
“He is doing a great job also inside the Vatican, which pleases all Catholics. I had distanced myself from the church for many reasons. … Pope Francis made me come back.”
The match, called United for Peace, will take place at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Proceeds will go to several Catholic charities, including the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation, which the pope founded in 2015. The foundation operates in 190 countries and 430,000 schools across five continents, promoting social bonds as well as dialogue and peace.
It is not the first time Maradona has played a charity match in the pope’s name. When the soccer legend took part in a previous interreligious charity match in Rome two years ago, the game attracted 20,000 fans.
At the time, the pope acknowledged the role of sport in building peace.
“Football is a human phenomenon, and special,” Francis said. “A sports event is a highly symbolic act that helps show it is possible to build a culture of encounter and a world of peace, in which believers of diverse religions conserve their own identity while living in mutual respect.”
Maradona led Argentina to a World Cup victory in 1986 after beating England in the quarterfinals and was named FIFA’s joint player of the 20th century along with the Brazilian champion, Pele.
(Josephine McKenna covers the Vatican for RNS)
