From Sandro Magister's blog Settimo Cielo:
There was once an empty Chair. It was left vacant up until the very last minute on the 22nd of June, with no plausible explanation from Pope Francis, as he deserted the concert offered in his honour in the packed Aula Nervi of Paul VI.Now the Chair is occupied. Not by the Pope, however, but by an Argentinian football [soccer] star, Ezequiel “El Pocho” Lavezzi, and surrounded by his jubilant team-mates.
It happened on the 13th of August, in the Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace, at the end of the meeting between Pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the Italian and Argentinean national football teams.While the Italian footballers politely waited in line to greet the Pope, the Argentinians, in disorder, crowded around him, to such an extent that it made him exclaim: “Here in the Vatican they criticize me, and call me undisciplined: now they have seen my race!”In giving news of the meeting , L’Osservatore Romano spoke of the “uncontainable exuberance” of the Argentine players, “with the Chair guards having their hands full keeping an eye on everything.”But the Vatican paper was careful not to publish the photo of the occupied Chair, which instead, was diffused on Twitter by the protagonist of the bravado.As for the Chair guards, seeing that the Master of the House let it happen, they were not able to intervene in defense of the sacred Chair, and so were not even able to give honour to their name. Has the reform of the Curia already begun?
(Author: Sandro Magister; Tip and translation: Contributor Francesca Romana.)
