Two fans of San Lorenzo, another great and a historic interior, the clubs of the Argentine cardinals who can replace Pope Francis

“I ask for only one thing, father: do not vote another fan of San Lorenzo”

The plea, in a relaxed tone, the Argentine cardinal receives in Rome Vicente Bokalic needles during a television mobile. On the other side, who elevates the plea is the journalist Luli Trujillorecognized hurricane fan. The cocktail of having a Pope Cuervo became a reason for pride and sheet metal for the fans of the cyclone In these twelve years of Francisco, who alternated between the divine Copa Libertadores of 2014 and the institutional via crucis that crosses the club today. But Jorge Bergoglio He was more than only Cuervo and Argentino, he was a football pavement, who gave rise to the most popular sport in the world.

The Vatican Museum shows it, which made a collection with the gifts that came from Boedo or from the Argentine National Team. But also the infinity of shirts that approached him during the protocol visits. Even Daniel Angelici approached a Boca shirt when he was president.

Meanwhile, the Council of Cardinals that arrives in Rome debate, Rosquea and even operates to define the next coach of the Church must continue with the reforms that Francisco brought or if he takes up a conservative path. More important: Is the next pontiff also football?

John Paul IIat the head of the Church between 1978 and 2005, he was a very identified Pope with the sport. Not only was I spread it as a way for education, I also practiced it. The young man had made volleyball, cycling or even escaped from the Vatican for a few hours to practice skiing in his early years, according to his biographer, George Weigel.

But it was also a Pope who played football. As a young man he was in the lower of the KS Krakow of Poland, a club of which he was also a fan. In the documentary “John Paul II speaks to the sport” old friends of his mention that he had conditions to play as a striker but liked Atajar. ‘He was the goalkeeper’, he had all against the Pope “, once chicanea for that Diego Maradona.

The athletic condition influenced his choice during the 78 -conclave conclave, after the brief step (almost an internship) of Juan Pablo iwho died 33 days after assuming a heart attack. After that bad drink, the cardinals were for a candidate with good health. They did not err, he was in command of the church 27 years.

A few months before he died, in 2005, John Paul II received the KS Cracovia squad, that withdrew the shirt No. 1 from the squad as a tribute. Of course, he did not bring them luck: in almost three decades with God’s cell phone their most famous fan could not manage a single title.

His successor was the German Benedict XVI. He did not need to make manager: he was a fan of Bayern Municha team that the titles almost fall from the pockets despite the slide of the last Saturday.

Benedict XVI was not openly football, although he recognized his social role. “As a team game, football forces an ordering within the set; unites through the common objective: the success and failure of each are encrypted in the success and failure of the set,” he wrote in his 1985 text Looking for what is over (Buscar Lo de Arriba).

In his time as a cardinal he became friends with the coach Giovanni Trapattoniduring the period between 1994 and 1997 when he directed Bayern Munich. The DT told that the Pope gave him books to study the language.

Benedict was church head for eight years until 2013, when the Board of Directors asked for the resignation: “God told me,” he said when they consulted him for the reasons for his departure.

Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires and partner number 88.235 of San Lorenzo. The club moved quickly and capitalized the arrival to the throne of San Pedro from one of his fans. Not only through social networks, but also from t -shirts or flags with their face throughout these years. It was even announced that the stadium that plans to build at some time on Avenida La Plata will be named Pope Francis.

The Jesuit Bergoglio became a fan of the club founded by the Salesian priest Lorenzo Massa Thanks to a historic team: the historic 1946 champion who formed with Armando Farro, René Pontoni and Rinaldo Martino.

“I remember, in particular, the 1946 championship, the one who won my San Lorenzo. I remember those days that I spent seeing the players playing and the joy of us, the children, when we returned home: joy, happiness on the face, adrenaline in the blood,” he said in an interview.

Without Francisco on the court, the cardinals deliberate who should be the next one to sit in The Vatican Substitute Bank. Like any team that runs out of DT, the name dance stuffes the hours while everywhere appears candidates.

Today the names of the Italians appear Matteo Zuppi o Pietro Parolinthe Filipino Luis Antonio Taglethe Ghanaian Peter Turkson or the Maltese Mario grind. But an old axiom says that those who enter as papable to the conclave usually leave as cardinals, in a vote that has its own rules and its rites intact for centuries. And that usually favor the covered.

What if the Argentine angel put a two -time championship? The chances are low, but not null. According to betting houses, in 2006 Benedict XVI paid 11 to 2.

There are four Argentine cardinals who will participate in the conclave and, therefore, have chances of being chosen. Here is a detail of continuity or change with Francisco’s line. It is that two of them are from San Lorenzo.

The first of them is the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Mario Aurelio Poli. With a pastoral approach similar to Francisco’s, he is a promoter of dialogue. He has a close link with the Cuervo: he participated in the Mass Tribute that took place in the Sports City of Bajo Flores in tribute to the ten years of Bergoglio’s papacy in 2013.

“I’m here because I’m from San Lorenzo”he said, in statements collected by the official website of the club. There they gave him an honorary card the then President Horacio Arreceygor.

The second of them is the cardinal Victor Manuel “Tucho” FernándezPrefect of the Dvicetry for the doctrine of the faith and personal friend of Francisco, was one of his narrow collaborators. Of young people 62, he is a man of few words and interviews. However, in one of the few revealed a curious fact: His nickname, “Tucho”, comes from the sidewalk: from a hurricane idol.

Born in Alcira Gigena, a small town in Córdoba, Fernández Padre was a fan of San Lorenzo. So much so that he went crazy when he lost. At that time one of the strikers sensation in Parque Patricios was Norberto “Tucho” MéndezInterior of the burning and the selection that made 123 goals. The friends of the Cardinal’s dad work used to load him when Méndez made goals to Cyclone In the classics.

“I am from San Lorenzo as my old man. And Tucho comes because he always made goals and my old man got crazy. They carried him so much that he had the nickname, and I inherited it,” said the now Cardinal in a 2014 interview with the capital.

But beyond the crows, there are two other names that are spinning. One of them is that of the Cardinal Angel Sixto Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba, Jesuit and protected from Francisco since its inception.

Asked about whether he looked like Pope, he replied with a humor: “As a fried Pope just,” he said before getting into the plane that took him to Rome. Wink of destiny, when he arrived in the city he met Belgrano fan of Córdoba And he couldn’t help taking a picture covering an eye.

Is that the father is a fan of Pirateas confirmed to Clarion From the Manos Open Foundation, an organization that helped lift in 1992 and is dedicated to distributing food and clothing among the poorest population. His position is clear: “Hopefully there is no abrupt change and that the one that happens to Francisco takes his legacy.”

The last Argentine papable is Bokalic needlesArchbishop of Santiago del Estero, of Slavic and current descent from Argentina. Church’s globetrotters, provided pastoral service in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Corrientes or San Juan before deriving in Santiago.

The cardinal has a vision of the Church very similar to that of Pope Francis. Its ecclesiastical career is marked by its dedication to the Social Pastoral and its closeness with the most vulnerable communities.

He is also a football fan. In its beginnings he had sympathy with Climbing Remedios Workshops o Lanústhe neighborhood teams where he grew up. However, according to the interview with Trujillo he is a fan of River Plate. “I am from the Red Band, but we twin with everyone. There is no controversy,” he dodged, conciliator, the cardinal.

A man of dialogue. What the Church may need at this time: another Argentine football to put cold cloths and look for consensus.