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Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own football allegiances.
Napoli won their fourth Scudetto on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter by one point in a nail-biting end to the season. The team, captained by the Italy international Giovanni Di Lorenzo and including player of the season Scott McTominay, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.
“The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,” said the pope, according to a transcript.
Leo, the first pope to come from the US, follows and takes part in sport, including tennis. People who know him have described him to the media as a Roma supporter.
Napoli’s chair, Aurelio De Laurentiis, gave him a blue Napoli shirt signed by players, bearing the No 10 and his name in Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”. De Laurentiis said: “You are a No 10, so you are a great striker.” Leo replied with a chuckle and a simple “thank you”.
The Napoli coach, Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentiis introduced as “deeply Catholic”, knelt down and kissed the pope’s hand, before Leo told him he had seen him many times on TV.
In a short speech, the pontiff stressed the importance of team spirit and collaboration, and sport’s educational value, especially for young people. Winning comes “at the end of a long journey, where what matters the most is not a one-time exploit or the extraordinary performance of one champion”, he said. “The championship is won by the team, and when I say ‘team’ I mean the players, the coach with the whole squad, and the club,” he added.
Leo ended his remarks giving his blessings to players and club officials, and offering congratulations, also on behalf of his personal cook. “She is from Naples and she says: best wishes! She would like to be here too, Mrs Rosa, [she is] a big fan.”
