Messi, San Lorenzo bid farewell to football fan Pope Francis

Buenos Aires: Argentine football great Lionel Messi thanked Pope Francis Monday for making the world a better place as the late pontiff s favorite c...

Buenos Aires: Argentine football great Lionel Messi thanked Pope Francis Monday for "making the world a better place" as the late pontiff's favorite club, San Lorenzo, hailed his decades-long "passion" for the team.

"RIP Pope Francis," Messi wrote on Instagram following the death of his fellow countryman -- the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere.

"Thank you for making the world a better place. We will miss you," the footballer said in a post with a photo of him with the pope.

San Lorenzo, meanwhile, adorned its home page with a large photo of a smiling pope under the club's blue-and-red striped emblem, and the words: "Goodbye forever, Holy Father!"

"An honorary member of our club, his passion for San Lorenzo always moved us especially, and it unites us in constant prayer for his soul," the team said in a statement dotted with photos of the pontiff holding, or posing with, San Lorenzo regalia.