After weeks of football matches, on the Sunday night of July 13, the Germans won against the Argentinians making them the world champions for 2014.

When contacted on the morrow at Vatican City, the prefect of the Pontifical Household, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said that he watched the game together with other German staff.

He went on to say that Pope Benedict, although German, is not a football enthusiast and preferred to know the result later, which he did as soon as Gaenswein greeted him in the morning with a smiling face.

On the other hand, we know that Pope Francis is a football fan but had declared that he was not going to pray for any particular team to win.

Both Popes can take a joke and enjoy light hearted comments on social media, of which we have heard and seen a lot these last couple of weeks. Gaenswein attributes this to football, which he says “has the power to unite”.

He went as far as to send “his heartfelt condolences” to Pope Francis through the Pontiff’s secretary Don Fabiàn Pedacchio Leaniz.

However, besides the World Cup result and the two Popes, Gaenswein also expressed the need that we pray for peace in the Holy Land as the situation is of great concern.