The popes and the World Cup

Here's a World Cup oddity as we all hold our breath waiting for the title game on Sunday.

The two teams playing in the final are Argentina and Germany.

As it turns out, those happen to be the home countries of our last two popes.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI hails from Germany. His successor, Pope Francis, is a proud Argentine.

Unfortunately, apparently neither one of them is much of a sports fan.

So I guess we should not expect any wagers of the kind we've come to expect between mayors of towns competing for sports titles.

But if they did what do you think they would wager?

Maybe 100 Hail Marys vs. 100 Our Fathers.

OK, OK, don't accuse me of being anti-Catholic. This is just a little Friday fun.

The Vatican isn't exactly playing along. Officials there say it is unlikely the two pontiffs will be getting together to watch the championship game. Apparently the game is too late for Pope Francis' schedule. The pontiff did say he would not "intercede" for either side.

But wouldn't it be neat to see the two of them leading the cheers for separate groups of raucous fans.

I can hear the chant now.

"I believe that we can win."

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