Former Brazilian football Legend Ronaldo de Assis Moreira commonly known as Ronaldinho met with Pope Francis earlier this week, precisely on Wednesday.
Ronaldinho was all smiles as he greeted and shook hands with Pope Francis who is also a renowned football fan.
The 35-year-old football star who won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2004 and 2005 was in Rome as a representative of Scholas Occurrentes – an international project that is Argentina-based which aims to unite schools and educational networks from different cultures and religious backgrounds. The educational organization was established by Pope Francis.
Pope Francis said there were two questions one must ask a Brazilian: one, “Was it water or not?” The other was: “Who was better: Pele or Maradona?”
The Pope was referring to World Cup 1990 often referred to as (The holy Water Scandal).
Argentina defeated Brazil 1–0 with a goal from Claudio Caniggia after a pass from Maradona. The end of the match was controversial with Brazilian player Branco accusing the Argentina training staff of giving him a bottle of water laced with tranquillizers while they were tending to an injured player.
Branco had been marking Maradona and subsequently complained of feeling drowsy.
I love to meet Pope Francis