The ‘destiny’ hidden in Pope Francis’ soccer club card

Before he was Pope, Jorge Bergoglio was member 88235 of his beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. Now fans in Buenos Aires see a parting message in that number.

Pope Francis never returned to his native Argentina after he became head of the Roman Catholic Church. But some of the faithful here believe he sent a final message home, in the unlikeliest but perhaps most appropriate of ways. Francis was a lifelong soccer fan — and occasional youth goalkeeper — and a card-carrying member of his favorite club, San Lorenzo. And it’s the number on that card that’s become the talk of Buenos Aires. “It has to be destiny,” said Ramiro Rodríguez, who arrived wearing a rosary over his team shirt at a small chapel that’s the spiritual birthplace of the club, for a Mass to celebrate the life of Francis. The number that’s causing the stir is assigned to “regular member” Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Pope’s birth name: 88235. And as person after person has pointed out, Francis was 88 when he died, at 2:35 a.m. Argentina time on Easter Monday.