I often joke with friends that the biggest religion in the world is soccer.
Yes, soccer. It’s kind of a combination of worldview, faith and sociology.
Depending what part of the world you hail from, this sport is also known as football, futbol, calcio, futebol and voetbal. But no matter what you call it, soccer is the passion of millions upon millions of people across the globe (including this super fan) and increasingly so in the United States.
Soccer, in my experience, can be — and has been — a very unifying force. No matter where in the world I may be, just mention that you follow soccer almost automatically results in a conversation. I have found that to be true everywhere I’ve been — from South Africa to Brazil to Russia. I have also found taxi drivers everywhere to be among the biggest, and most knowledgable, fans of the world’s most popular sport.
Soccer has many parallels to organized religion, especially Catholicism. Some of the world’s best players hail from majority Catholic nations (although evangelicals and Pentecostals are on the rise in South America).
True believers gather — at least they did before COVID-19 — on Sundays inside massive stadiums (often likened to cathedrals) to cheer on their favorite teams with a fervor unseen in other sports around the world. It also isn’t unusual for soccer players to make the sign of the cross after a goal or when a team records a victory. Despite all these parallels, it is often lost on journalists that religious faith, and how it impacts a particular player or team, has very real resonance to the story and readers.
Take, for example, Lionel Messi, who just this week was again named by Forbes as the planet’s highest-paid soccer player. The Barcelona star (who seemed to be on the brink of signing with Manchester City) decided earlier this month to stay in the Spanish city.
In an exclusive interview with Goal.com, Messi outlined why he decided to stay. Here’s what he said:
“My son, my family, they grew up here and are from here. There was nothing wrong with wanting to leave. I needed it, the club needed it and it was good for everyone.
“My wife, with all the pain of her soul, supported and accompanied me.”
This is a time when journalists, sports writers in particular, have little trouble asking public figures questions related to politics. Indeed, this summer has seen leagues across the United States, for example, openly advocate for social justice by wearing Black Lives Matter shirts or refusing to play altogether in order to make a statement about police brutality.
If politics can be something athletes can care about deeply, isn’t faith also one of them?
At least for some it is. We know it is because those faith angles sometimes come through in sports stories after the athlete makes a point of it like in the case of college football star-turned minor-league baseball player Tim Tebow. GetReligion has published a hundred or more posts on this topic during the past 17 years.
That statement Messi statement about his wife and the “pain of her soul” cried out for some kind of clarification. Did any reporters attempt to follow up on that?
Now, it is true that Messi’s life has been complicated, when it comes to his Catholic status and practice.
The 33-year-old Barcelona team captain has been under contract with the team since he was just 13. A native of Argentina, Messi moved to Spain to join Barcelona's youth academy, known as La Masia. In 2004, Messi made his debut with Barcelona, where he went on to become the best player (along with Cristiano Ronaldo) of his generation.
How has faith played a role in Messi’s personal life? His success? His decision to stay at Barcelona? He did, after all, mention his wife’s “soul” just this past Friday.
Those questions have been seldom asked. Especially now, where Messi found himself at a crossroads, there has been no journalism around whether faith has played a role in his decision to stay at the celebrated Catalan club. Instead, the Messi saga — and the news coverage around it — revolved heavily around the player’s decision to stay at Barcelona because of his contractual obligations to the team.
That’s not to say that Messi and his Catholic faith have not made news before. For example, Messi ran afoul of church officials in 2017 pertaining to his wedding. Here’s how Catholic News Agency clarified the matter at the time:
An Argentine diocesan official has clarified that the local archbishop did not deny a sacramental Catholic wedding to Argentinian soccer player Lionel “Leo” Messi and his girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo.
Rather, the archbishop forbid that a Catholic wedding for the couple be celebrated in a casino chapel, per Church norms.
Some reports about the couple’s wedding, such as those from the international sports media company AS, had claimed that “The Archbishop forbids Messi and Antonella to marry in the Church.”
However, the Episcopal Delegate of Communication for the Archdiocese of Rosario, Fr. Rubén Bellante, told CNA that “neither the family of Messi nor the bride asked for a place in any parish in the city of Rosario, nor in the Cathedral either.”
“At no time did Archbishop Eduardo Eliseo Martín deny the possibility of the Sacrament of Marriage,” he said.
Messi, star of Barcelona FC soccer team and one of the best players in the world, had a civil marriage ceremony at the City Center Casino Complex, south of Rosario, Argentina on June 30 with 260 guests. The wedding was attended by well-known soccer figures and celebrities (such as Shakira) from various parts of the world.
Messi met Antonella when he was just 5 years old, but officially their relationship started in 2008. The couple has two children: Thiago, age 4, and Mateo, age 1.
Again, in 2019, Messi was the focus of news coverage when Pope Francis, a soccer fan and fellow Argentine, was asked about the player’s abilities. This time, the pope, in an interview with Spanish news program Salvados, praised Messi as an athlete, but criticized those who hail him as a God.
As a result, the pope’s remarks made it into newspapers and sports sites around the world. Here’s how Sports Illustrated covered the story at the time:
Pope Francis has said that, while Lionel Messi is undoubtedly a great player, he is not God. However, the head of the Catholic church also said he doesn't believe the player's D10S moniker to be sacrilegious.
Throughout Messi's Barcelona career, many fans have referred to him as a God as a result of his footballing ability, creating the nickname D10S, as combination of his shirt number and the Spanish word for God.
The forward is widely recognized as one of the greatest of all time, even earning praise from his countryman Pope Francis, who discussed comparisons between the Barcelona forward and Lord Almighty.
Speaking on La Sexta's Salvados show, the Pope accepted that the idea that calling Messi a God is a common expression of adoration and not blasphemous. However, he also made it clear that Messi is not a God.
When asked whether it is sacrilegious to call Messi God, Pope Francis replied: "In theory, it is sacrilege... but I don't believe it.”
He added: “People can say he is God, just as they may say 'I adore you' but only God can be worshipped. Those are expressions from people. 'This is a God with the ball on the field' is a popular way for someone to express themselves.
“Of course, he is very good, but he isn’t God.”
Messi has spoken little of his faith — not unusual for people living in Europe — but he hasn’t been shy about it. However, the superstar has said that “Messi is God (or a god)” talk makes him uncomfortable.
Messi, like many athletes of his age range, has tattoos: one of Jesus on his upper right arm and a rose window of the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona on his right elbow.
In 2017, Messi told TyC Sports, an Argentine TV network, that if Argentina won the 2018 World Cup, he would celebrate by running 30 miles from his boyhood home in Rosario to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas. The run never happened after Argentina failed to win the World Cup that summer.
As Messi pondered a move over the past month, we have seen news stories about his father (who also doubles as his agent), but little else regarding the personal struggle and behind-the-scenes soul-searching that could very well been a major part of this summer’s biggest soccer saga.