(OSV News) \u2014 As the July 19 World Cup final approaches, players from two historically Catholic nations can count not only on the prayers of their fans, but also on a rich web of Catholic threads surrounding the showdown between Spain and Argentina.<\/p>\n
From the tournament\u2019s origins to the faith openly lived by players and coaches on both sides, this final carries a distinctly Catholic dimension.<\/p>\n
The match at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium brings together two football giants whose paths to the final have been marked not only by sporting excellence, but also by visible expressions of Catholic faith.<\/p>\n
Messi: \u2018Grateful for everything God has given me\u2019<\/p>\n
Argentina\u2019s global star Lionel Messi has also spoken openly about his faith. After Argentina secured its place in the final, he said: \u201cGod is great, and he always has something else. But honestly, I cannot ask God for anything else. I am grateful for everything he has given me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messi and his teammates have also welcomed religious gifts from fans in public. After Argentina\u2019s win over Cape Verde, content creator Juli\u00e1n P\u00e9rez Regio approached the six-time FIFA Player of the Match outside the stadium and handed him a rosary blessed at the Vatican, telling him it was meant for him, his wife, Antonela, and their children, and for his parents, in gratitude for two decades of joy he has given Argentine fans. Messi stopped, visibly moved, and accepted it.<\/p>\n
Spanish coach is a magician of football\u00a0who loves Christ<\/p>\n
If anyone wondered where the precision combined with clearly having fun on the pitch comes from in the Spanish team, striker Ferran Torres gave a sense of the answer when he spoke publicly about his Catholic faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a cross and an image of the Virgin,\u201d he said in a video shared by the Spanish national soccer team. \u201cIn the end, I think it\u2019s something that gives me a lot of support. It gives me great strength in my faith, and for me it\u2019s something very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spain, a country deeply rooted in Catholic tradition and recently visited by Pope Leo XIV, arrives under the wings of coach Luis de la Fuente, known as much for his personal faith as for his magic tactical skill. After Spain\u2019s record fourth European Championship title in July 2024, the country\u2019s bishops publicly praised his witness.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Jos\u00e9 \u00c1ngel Saiz Meneses of Seville described de la Fuente at the time as \u201ca deeply religious man\u201d unafraid of \u201cpublicly expressing his faith,\u201d noting his devotion to the Holy Christ of the Expiration in Seville. An image of the coach praying before the famed crucifix went viral at the time, and certainly Spanish soccer fans are turning their eyes heavenward before the July 19 final.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been able to transmit faith, humility, the value of the team above individualities, the spirit of sacrifice, effort, confidence\u201d the archbishop of Seville said of de la Fuente after Spain\u2019s 2024 victory.<\/p>\n
Bishop Jos\u00e9 Ignacio Munilla Aguirre of Orihuela-Alicante also highlighted \u201cthe testimony of faith of the coach,\u201d comparing it to that of Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi and citing the Gospel of Matthew: \u201cEveryone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Lady of Lujan hidden in a shin guard<\/p>\n
Argentina, meanwhile, has carried its own strong Catholic identity throughout the tournament, both in the locker room and on the pitch.<\/p>\n
Before every match, Argentina\u2019s kit man Mario Di St\u00e9fano sets up a small prayer altar in the team\u2019s locker room. A kit man is a vital member of a sports team\u2019s backroom staff who manages all equipment and uniforms.<\/p>\n
The prayer altar is centered on a statue of Our Lady of Luj\u00e1n, Argentina\u2019s patroness, alongside images of Our Lady Undoer of Knots and St. Expedite, considered the patron saint of urgent causes.<\/p>\n
The tradition dates back decades, echoing practices from the team\u2019s 1986 World Cup run.<\/p>\n
Players\u2019 personal devotions have also drawn attention. Lautaro Mart\u00ednez was seen with a holy card of Our Lady of Luj\u00e1n tucked into his shin guard, while before the tournament began, Lionel Messi\u2019s boots were blessed at the basilica dedicated to the same Marian title.<\/p>\n
It was sports journalist Walter Queijeiro who brought the soccer boots of Messi, Argentina\u2019s legendary captain, and the player most credited with the team\u2019s 2022 title, which the Albiceleste are now defending, to the Basilica of Our Lady of Luj\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
The boots, a limited Adidas edition called \u201cEl \u00daltimo Tango\u201d (\u201cThe Last Tango\u201d), a nod both to Argentina\u2019s musical heritage and to what is expected to be Messi\u2019s last dance in the national jersey, were blessed by the basilica\u2019s rector, Father Lucas Garc\u00eda, in a small ceremony before pilgrims and children. Messi wore them on June 16 in Kansas City when he scored his first World Cup hat trick\u00a0against Algeria, tying Miroslav Klose\u2019s record for most goals in men\u2019s World Cup history, a milestone in what is Messi\u2019s sixth World Cup.<\/p>\n
Jules Rimet: French Catholic founder of World Cup<\/p>\n
Even the World Cup itself has Catholic roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Cup was founded in 1928 at the initiative of Jules Rimet, a French Catholic who was then president of the International Federation of Association Football,\u201d Isabelle de Chatellus, program director for sports at the French bishops\u2019 conference, told OSV News.<\/p>\n
Chatellus emphasized that Rimet\u2019s vision of the tournament was shaped by Catholic social teaching and a desire to promote human dignity and social cohesion through sport, particularly among the working classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was inspired by the social doctrine developed by Leo XIII in his encyclical \u2018Rerum Novarum,\u2019 and was committed to defending human dignity, social justice, and collective responsibility toward the most vulnerable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis parents were grocers in Paris,\u201d she said of Rimet. \u201cHe immediately saw sports as a popular activity. For him, soccer was the quintessential popular sport and a prime vehicle for promoting attention to the most disadvantaged communities and social justice. He wanted to foster social cohesion through soccer, transcending class distinctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRimet was therefore in favor of professionalization and the payment of soccer players, which he saw as a way to make the sport accessible to workers,\u201d Chatellus said. \u201cHe recognized that the working classes did not have the luxury of playing sports at the expense of their livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sports: a school of conflict resolution<\/p>\n
For Chatellus, sport remains a place where competition and conflict can be lived out within rules, respect, and shared values, even at the highest level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe soccer field remains a place of conflict. But it is a place where conflict must take place with respect, within the rules and guided by team values that are very constructive. There is a unique path to holiness that can be experienced through sports,\u201d she told OSV News.<\/p>\n
Chatellus is the director of the Holy Games, the Catholic association supported by the Archdiocese of Paris that provided pastoral care during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It has since become a permanent structure within the French bishops\u2019 conference.<\/p>\n
A soccer fan herself, she expressed her disappointment following the French national team\u2019s defeat in the semifinals on July 14, Bastille Day, France\u2019s biggest national holiday. \u201cIt was truly a huge disappointment, and one that took us by surprise, because it was a great team. But the Spanish team played very well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As Spain and Argentina prepare to meet on football\u2019s biggest stage, it remains to be seen at the final game which Spanish-speaking team that the patron saint of urgent causes, St. Expedite, will cheer on.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n
Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris. Ines San Martin writes for OSV News from Rosario, Argentina. Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(OSV News) \u2014 As the July 19 World Cup final approaches, players from two historically Catholic nations can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4027,11156,9948,23109,313,332,23420,10818,1743,17,369],"class_list":["post-57236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-argentina","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-east-rutherford","tag-football","tag-lionel-messi","tag-metlife-stadium","tag-new-jersey","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}