Papal succession puts halt to Argentina's World Cup chances?

Pope Francis is a footie fan.

We caught sight of this tweet from @MundoAlbicelest who claims that the former Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, is a big fan of his local footie club San Lorenzo de Almagro.

The #Pope supports San Lorenzo, an Argentine club founded by a priest named of Lorenzo MASSA in 1908

— Mundo Albiceleste ⭐🌟⭐🇦🇷 (@MundoAlbicelest) March 13, 2013

ABC news in Madrid seem to back this up as does this You Tube clip from ROY FMA.

So, does this give Argentina the divine right to the World Cup next year? Nope.

We dug a little deeper and found that no country has won the World Cup when one of their own has been pope. A little surprising considering Italy have held the pontiff's post for so much of the last century or so.

Bet ya Brazil are relieved today!

Clip via YouTube

Mind you, none of them had anyone like the infallible Messi at the time.

Table of World Cup winners and popes in position at the time.

Year - World Cup winners - Pope, pope's place of birth

2010 - Spain - Benedict XVI, Germany

2006 - Italy - Benedict XVI, Germany

2002 - Brazil - John Paul II, Poland

1998 - France - John Paul II, Poland

1994 - Brazil - John Paul II, Poland

1990 - Germany - John Paul II, Poland

1986 - Argentina - John Paul II, Poland

1982 - Italy - John Paul II, Poland

1978 - Argentina - Paul VI, Italy, John Paul I, Italy and John Paul II, Poland

1974 - Germany - Paul VI, Italy

1970 - Brazil - Paul VI, Italy

1966 - England - Paul VI, Italy

1962 - Brazil - John XXIII, Italy

1958 - Brazil - Pius XII, Italy and John XXIII, Italy

1954 - Germany - Pius XII, Italy

1950 - Uruguay - Pius XI, Austrian Empire and Pius XII, Italy

1938 - Italy - Pius XI, Austrian Empire

1934 - Italy - Pius XI, Austrian Empire

1930 - Uruguay - Pius XI, Austrian Empire