LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Pope Francis met on Wednesday with members of the Scottish soccer team Celtic, a day after they played the Rome soccer team Lazio in the UEFA Champions League. The meeting took place despite the Pope's ongoing lung inflammation that has forced him to curtail his schedule and skip an international trip.
Celtic Football Club is the traditionally Catholic team Glasgow, the capital of Scotland. It has a fierce rivalry with Rangers, which is traditionally Protestant.
The two teams dominate Scotland’s soccer league, but Scottish flags – which can be found almost everywhere else in the country – are not common in the teams’ stadiums: Celtic fans fly the Irish tri-color, while Rangers fans fly the Union Jack or even the Northern Irish flag. As late as the 1980’s, Rangers had an unofficial ban on Catholics playing for them.
