Prayers offered for all sides

Pope Francis’ love of football is famous and it can be assumed that he is supporting Argentina during the World Cup. But Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was worried how this might work out.

According to the Colombian archbishop, Oscar Urbina Ortega, Ms Rousseff asked the Pope for two things when she visited the Vatican in February. First that he record the World Cup message, which was broadcast on Brazilian television last week. She then became serious and the Pope wondered what on earth she was going to say. According to the archbishop, “The president appealed to him for neutrality and asked him not to pray for Argentina to win, which would give them an unfair advantage.”

The Pope replied “that he would pray for everyone”, confirmed the archbishop, who was at the Vatican last week on behalf of the Populorum Progressio for Latin America Foundation.