Argentinian football star Diego Maradona met Pope Francis in Rome's Vatican City as part of a special papal audience for players and organizers ahead of the Interreligoius Match for Peace on Monday.
The charity football match helped promote peace and interreligious cooperation.
In addition, the match promoted a diplomatic solution for the crisis taking place in Gaza and also raised money for at-risk children.
The idea for the match was birthed in April 2013 after former Argentine player Javier Zanetti had a conversation with Pope Francis.
Other players who joined Maradona at the event were Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, Carlos Valderrama, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, and Andrea Pirlo.
While at the event, Maradona presented the Pope with a personalized Argentina shirt.
Maradona is known to many "as the 'Hand of God' in the 1986 World Cup quarter final defeat of England." He said, "Everybody in Argentina can remember "the hand of God" in the England match in the 1986 World Cup. Now, in my country, the "hand of God" has brought us an Argentinian pope."
Throughout his childhood, Maradona was captivated with the world of football. He received his first football when he was three years old and the sport quickly became his favorite pastime. It was absolutely impossible to deny that he was a football prodigy indeed, as he devoted countless hours to perfecting his craft.
When Maradona was ten years old, he joined one of the biggest clubs in Argentina, Los Cebollitas, "a youth team of Argentinos Juniors." He led his team to a winning streak as Los Cebollitas remained unbeaten for 136 games. Just before Maradona turned 16 years old, he made his professional debut as part of the senior team.
