We are in the middle of Holy Week, a time of faith and recollection. Some beliefs that for some go beyond a simple period of time to become something that marks your life. Faith is part of our society, our culture and also of Sport. Football keeps an endless number of stories that have marked Spanish society and politics, but also anecdotes that link the king of sports with religion and especially with Holy Week. Many footballers are members of the brotherhood and there are several Sevillian brotherhoods that have a close relationship with the city’s teams. But if there is one A story that is worth remembering these days is that of the “Christ of soccer players” that is in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires and who has one of his most fervent devotees in Pope Francis, as was Diego Armando Maradona.
And it is that this Christ has very Spanish roots, specifically Sevillian and hence his unique secret. The Christ of Love, which is located in the Church of El Salvador, processions on Palm Sunday in Seville but his Argentine brother does it every Good Friday through the streets of Buenos Aires.
His origins
The football players Scotta and Bertoni, after winning the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, played for Sevilla and also one of ‘Luisito’ Álvarez Duarte’s close childhood and Salesian friends, the midfielder Pablo Blanco.
It was through the latter, like Scotta and Bertoni, who had just scored 16 goals each in the League, They commissioned the sculptor and image maker Álvarez Duarte to make a carving of a Captive Christ in the image of the Christ of Great Love so that a piece of Seville would be in Buenos Aires.
Bertoni went to Fiorentina and the gunboat Scotta to the Railroad of his country, but his commission was made and in 10 months of being in the sculptor’s workshop, he already had it. It was an impressive carving of a 1.87 meter tall Captive carved from Lebanese cedar. Both footballers never wanted to reveal what the commission cost them because what is important to them is its devotional value.
Other Argentine world champions also collaborated in this initiative, such as goalkeeper Ubaldo Matildo ‘El Pato’ Fillol, Olvaldo Ardiles, Alberto Tarantini or ‘El Matador’ Mario Alberto Kempes, for which there are plenty of reasons to be known as “The Christ of Soccer Players”. .
A piece of Seville on Good Friday in Buenos Aires
The image was transferred from the San Pablo Airport in Seville to Buenos Aires by an Argentine Air Force plane and, since 1981, it has been venerated in the Buenos Aires cathedral and processions on Good Fridays through the capital of Argentina among the devotion of the faithful and soccer fans.
Once in the temple of the Argentine capital, the Christ was blessed by Monsignor Keegan -who was amazed at the Christ of Great Love during a visit to Seville- and, since then, he has been prayed to there and in the streets. Before him, not only the people prostrate themselves, but also the man who was in those years the cardinal of Buenos Aires and today Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, who also shared with Scotta the passion for San Lorenzo de Almagro.
Despite the relatively brief period that both were in Seville, Scotta (1976-1980) and Bertoni (1978-1980) were marked by the city and this carving is proof of this.
But this Christ keeps another secret inside: the sculptor Luis Álvarez Duarte, who died in 2019, engraved a Sevilla FC shield on the inside of the sculpture commissioned by Scotta and Bertoni -who were footballers for the Nervionense team at the time- but the artist, who was from Bético, could not repress himself and also recorded the one from the team of his loves.
Soccer and Holy Week united by the passion for some colors.