Pope calls Maradona a fragile poet; decries doping cheats

Pope Francis meets Diego Maradona in Rome in 2014. [Pier Marco Tacca / Getty Images]

Pope Francis has hailed fellow Argentine Diego Maradona as a "poet" on the pitch, but also acknowledged his frailty away from the sport.

In a wide-ranging interview with Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport published on Saturday, Francis recalled his own days playing soccer as a child with a ball made of rags and laid bare his scorn for doping cheats.

Francis is a big soccer fan and met Maradona, who died in November, several times after becoming pope in 2013.

"On the field he was a poet, a great champion who gave joy to millions of people, in Argentina as in Naples. He was also a very fragile man," Francis said.

Maradona played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991 winning two Serie A titles and the UEFA Cup. In 1986, he captained the Argentine team to victory in the World Cup.

Despite his love for the game, Francis said he was living in Germany at the time and was not able to see the final played in Mexico against West Germany. He only discovered the result the next day when a student wrote "Viva Argentina" on the blackboard during a language class.

"I personally remember it as a victory of loneliness because I had no one to share the joy of that sporting victory with," he said.

Francis said he himself had no talent for the sport and was forced by his companions to play in goal.

"But being a goalkeeper was a great school of life for me. The goalkeeper must be ready to respond to dangers that can come from all sides," he said.

In this June 29, 1986, file photo, Diego Maradona holds up his team's trophy after Argentina's 3-2 victory over West Germany at the World Cup final soccer match at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title died from a heart attack on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60. [AP Photo/Carlo Fumagalli, File]

Being poor, he recalled how he and his friends could not afford a proper ball, so had to improvise: "All we needed was a ball made of rags to have fun and perform."

While extolling the virtues of sport, Francis took aim at athletes who took performance enhancing drugs.

"Doping in sport is not only cheating, it is a shortcut that destroys dignity," he said. "Better a clean defeat than a dirty victory. I wish this for the whole world, not just the world of sport."