For football fans around the world, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been the two best players in the world for a while now.
While deciding who between the two is the absolute best is a never-ending debate, for Messi fans and a majority of neutrals there’s no doubt that their man is the greatest. In fact, Messi’s admirers have even gone ahead and termed him D10S, which is a play on the Barcelona star’s jersey number and the Spanish word for god, which is ‘dios’.
Now, none other than Pope Francis (yes, him) has gone on record to say that Messi is not god. The Pontiff said it in a light-hearted manner in an interview with La Sexta.
Asked if it was a sacrilege to say Messi is god, the Pope said that the Argentine footballer is great on the pitch but he is no god.
“In theory, it is a sacrilege. You can’t do it,” said the 82-year-old Pope. “I don’t believe that. People could call him god, just as they might say ‘I adore you’, but only god can be worshiped.
“These are people’s expressions. He is god with the ball on the pitch. Those are popular expressions. Of course, he is great to watch... but he is not god.”
Pope Francis is known to be a football fan, and he is also a club member of Buenos Aires side San Lorenzo, according to Reuters.
The comparison drew some interesting response on Twitter, as one would expect:
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