On a beautiful day in the year 2000, Diego Maradona met with Pope John Paul 11, it was a visit that elicited excitement and well publicized. But things took a new dimension when the Pope distributed the holy rosary.
Maradona was always seen during matches doing the sign of the cross when running into the pitch. He was quoted to have said that he does the sign of the cross because he believed that it will be ungrateful and a disrespect to God who gave him an amazing talent if he do not show appreciation, so that was his way of showing appreciation.
He got upset with the Pope for giving him the same rosary as he gave others. He expected a special one. He was quoted to have said that the Pope showed him 'a total lack of respect.'
Then he went into ranting, asking the Pope to sell the golden celinings at the vatican and use it to feed the poor. In his words, "I've been to the Vatican and seen the gold ceilings. And then I hear the Pope saying that the Church was concerned about poor kids.
"So? Sell the ceilings, mate! You've got nothing going for you. You were only a goalkeeper."
Maradona doubled down on his views when he returned to the Vatican in 2014, saying: " I went into the Vatican and saw that golden roof. And I said to myself how could somebody be such a son of a b**** as to live with a golden roof and then go to poor countries and kiss children with a full belly? I stopped believing."
But he later claimed that Pope Francis has restored his faith when he paid a similar visit to him in his early days as Pope.
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