room but it was different on Monday when another larger-than-life
Argentine - soccer great Diego Maradona - attended a Papal
event,Al-Arabiyareports.
Maradona was among some 400 people who attended a special Papal
audience for players and organisers of a charity match that was being
played on Monday night in Rome to promote peace and inter-religious
cooperation.
The Pope read an address to the participants in the Vatican's large
audience hall and then each of them filed past the pontiff to greet
and have their picture taken with the leader of the world's
approximately 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
Maradona, who led Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986 and played
for Italian side Napoli, sat in the front row waiting his turn to
greet the Pope.
As the participants walked down the steps of the stage to return to
their seats many of them stopped to greet Maradona and have their
pictures taken with him immediately afterwards.
When his turn came to greet the Pope, Maradona chatted with his
compatriot longer than most of the others and gave him a light
blue-and-white jersey with his Argentine national team number - 10 -
and the name Francisco on it.
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