The Pope, Qatar and the universal holiday of Christmas

“Guys, now we are excited again, I want to win the third, I want to be world champion, and Diego, in heaven we can see it, with Don Diego and La Tota, cheering Lionel” (Guys, Fernando Romero)

According to the text of the Qatar 2022 World Cup song, one might think that the championship is a favorable geographical, physical or virtual and cultural “place” where God reveals himself.

In the immediate vicinity of the stadium and on live television, people’s eyes meet with a very high load of patriotic sense, enthusiasm, sporting fervour, passion for football and communication of the various sectors where there is entertainment, prayer, art, games and party. The text of Romero’s song transmits, for the Argentines, a large part of those feelings of love for the blue-and-whites, of brotherhood and veneration for Maradona and Messi. And it reveals an extra meaning by uniting the profane with the sacred. Plus meaning that it is not extraneous but rather contrary to the popular faith or that of the players themselves (as when Messi crosses himself at the start of the game or when after a goal he raises his hands celebrating success with his grandmother Celia who is in heaven on the pitch ). Perhaps, dribbling like Diego or Lionel, the poet tries to make history by avoiding contradictions far from any Manichaeism for the sake of multifaceted unity (EG 228).

More here than Jorge Bergoglio and beyond the crowded audience and the big television screens, the alternatives of the parties, one cannot fail to see the immediate reality, the great economic and financial world that motivates the monumental business of the managers and the bodies that govern professional football as a sector increasingly important part of the brutal opulence of a world in which wasteful consumption becomes an almost religious and paradoxical altar. It doesn’t displace but rather stimulates and develops the game and transforms it into a tool that “uses” for utilitarian and power purposes. While on one side of the stadiums and in the gigantic work of building them, we cannot help but see a large part of humanity fall, seriously injured and crucified.

This intolerable contrast for the present times invites us to reflect on the eve of the universal feast of Christmas.

Theologians teach that God makes himself present in history in Scripture, in the tradition and in the magisterium of the Church and also and above all in the physical, concrete, real world of the poor, of those who suffer. God speaks to us from human and social reality and reality speaks to us of God who, not being reality, is in it. What reality does this God speak to us about in the Qatar 2022 World Cup?

When we talk about the reality of Qatar, we are referring to the country governed by the “eternally exceptional” regime, owned by the Arab Al Thani family since the middle of the last century, and since a century before, by the same dynasty, sitting on the resources created by God and the “protectorate” of England.

When we now look at that concrete reality we see the wonderful spectacle of football but we cannot help but see at the same time the “slave labor” who for more than ten years has buried 6,500 souls of the 30,000 immigrants from countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the name of football in the construction of eight large sports stadiums, the repair of a ninth and in the construction of other works infrastructural, FIFA international bribery scandal, in the United States through.

Economic and social reality whose black and white data frighten any observer, and which is denounced by the report that Infobae published yesterday, Saturday 17 December, by Sergio Serricchio, researcher and Director of the School of Crafts of the National University of La Argento. The note to which we refer is entitled “The numbers of the most expensive World Cup in history: costs and shadows of Qatar 2022” and exempts us from any other comment.

In the doctrine of the Church, man is a “being in relationship”, he is born, develops and lives in relationship with the Other since his gestation in the mother’s womb. Likewise, he takes place in society and his mission is to procure the common good. If the meeting of people does not have the common good as its goal, it will be fun, show, entertainment, game, it can have condiments such as joy, observation, demonstration, art, but it cannot properly be called a party.

As the Second Vatican Council says and Father Tello recalls, the common good implies a multiplicity of actions and achievements which are good insofar as they serve the perfection of all individuals; but to the extent that they are a tool for the enrichment of an elite, they are bad. And the world of football has become that. An elite that contests the power of states and amasses immeasurable economic power from particular groups. Far away and sometimes, like today, against the common good. On the other hand, Tello adds, «the common good lies in living with others. And in this itself there is perfection… And this is what is typical of the party. Live together with others. And in this coexistence with others man fulfills himself, reaches a fullness of life. He is a happy being ». (p. 260). “Life is celebrating life in common, which has meaning in itself… Celebration is the celebration that looks to the common good as the Church has always understood it, the full common good”. On the other hand, Alpine football has abandoned the party itself to become a sophisticated consumer market machine.

As we have developed according to Father Tello, the party puts all being in common. He lives with others, is with others. Life is celebrated with others. Rejoice and celebrate with others by living together with others. Instead the show is this: an individual, and another individual, and another individual, and another, etc., that all coincide in joining something they expect to see or hear (Tello, op. cit. page 261 ).

On the field, for the people of the popular stands, living is being with others. Among the public, on the other hand, there are people from more well-off backgrounds who have another conception of life; one lives to progress individually…” (p. 261). In the show there is amusement, exaltation, joy or sadness, a multi-individual emotional experience in which the communion of spirits is intersubjectively absent, which we can experience, in particular, in a procession or march towards the Shrine of the Virgin of Luján or other celebrations where the Church brings strictly religious elements that mix with other profane elements typical of popular culture.

This “being with others”, an essential element of the party, is what we call “being in common”, says Tello, quoting Pieper and Mateos. Instead, in mere play, mere diversion or simply in idleness, in the enjoyment of a show, the union is temporary and does not go beyond constituting itself as the sum of individuals who can be thousands but are not “in common” “with the others” but each with himself. In many cases, in the egocentrism of multi-individual participation there is a modern tendency to escape from life and so many young people “go to drugs, to escape from an isolated, meaningless life” because they see the “absurdity of society” which offers them no alternatives. And this is not a party because it does not “affirm life” but rather sets life, the body, emotion, intelligence against itself, it denies life (aut. cit. op. cit. p. 264).

In relation to Christian culture, Tello distinguishes between ecclesial culture and the culture of life. The first focused on the religious aspect but in many cases does not look at life without understanding that “Christ did not come only for a religious aspect, but he came to promote the whole of life” (Tello, p. 264).

The party is the human being in action, it is communication and encounter by participating in the preparation and celebration. First, Rafael Tello, who was in charge of teaching this subject following the words of Juan Mateos, in his book Cristianos en fiesta…Ed. Christianity tells us that celebration is always “a yes to life” (p. 253 Tello), “it is the affirmation of life”, “joy”. “The joy that is expressed in exuberance and sometimes in excess.” Like when we have a few too many drinks.

In the days leading up to Christmas 2020, this is how Pope Francis reflected in preparation for the celebration. “In the Liturgy of the Night the angel’s announcement to the shepherds will resound: “Do not be afraid, because I announce to you a great joy, which will be for all the people: today, in the city of David, a savior was born for you, who is the Christ the Lord; and this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:10-12).

Imitating the shepherds, we too go in spirit towards Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to the Child in a stable, “because”, says Saint Luke, “they had no place in the inn” (2:7).

“Christmas has become a universal holiday, and even those who don’t believe in it perceive the charm of this holiday.” (Francisco, Aud. Gral. 23/12/2020). So let’s celebrate, even if the Pope warns us “let’s not have the wrong party… let’s not have a worldly Christmas!”. And the Holy Father goes on to say: “…Christmas must not be reduced to a merely sentimental or consumerist celebration, full of gifts and good wishes but poor in Christian faith, and poor in humanity. Let us not forget that “… the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory which he received from the Father as the only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1, 14) (Audit Gral 19/12/2018). Happy birthday Francis! and Merry Christmas! for everyone.

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