'Warm' Pope's passion for football remembered

A university professor and a priest have remembered "warm" and "charismatic" Pope Francis's passion for football.

The pontiff was pictured holding a Sunderland AFC jersey in 2013, with club chaplain Father Marc Lyden-Smith saying the team's subsequent victory over Newcastle was thanks to Francis.

And Prof Anna Rowlands, of Durham University, said he had roared with laughter when she told him she was a Manchester United fan the first time they spoke at length.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, died at 07:35 local time (06:35 BST) on Easter Monday at the age of 88, the Vatican said.

His death comes after he appeared at St Peter's Square on Sunday to wish "Happy Easter" to thousands of worshippers.

Prof Rowlands said his death was a "fragile" moment.

The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle Stephen Wright said the Pope had been "a joy to meet in person and an inspiration to so many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike".

The Church of England's Bishop of Jarrow, Rt Revd Sarah Clark, said the death of Pope Francis was "deeply sad" and she found him a "great inspiration".

Fr Lyden-Smith presented Francis with a Sunderland AFC shirt at a general audience in Rome in October 2013.

It was days before a derby game between the Black Cats and Newcastle.

"We can say that he was a committed Sunderland supporter and he held up the jersey and made a big thing of it," Fr Lyden-Smith told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"Then, of course, we beat Newcastle a few days later, so we have the Pope to thank for that victory, because he was a big, big football fan."

He added Francis used to be a season ticket holder in Argentina and would also check on the Premier League in England.

Fr Lyden-Smith met Francis again during great mass and said the pontiff had told him he was keen to improve his English.

"Just a really, warm, welcoming, really lovely human being, just like a nice parish priest. Very down to earth, very natural. Just a very, very warm man," Fr Lyden-Smith said.

Prof Rowlands, from Manchester, spent two years seconded to the Vatican during Francis's papacy.

She said Francis wanted to know what football team she supported.

When she said she was a "genuine, bona fide Mancunian, Manchester United fan by origin", he had "roared laughing" and told his aide "you see, she must have a sense of humour".

"And that was the first extended conversation I'd ever had with him. So his nature was to tease you slightly and to be good humoured, and find a point of human connection with you," Prof Rowlands said.

"He was a totally normal, very at ease with people, kind of person."

The Catholic social thought and practice professor said that despite his high office, he had a "common touch", and while quietly spoken, he was "charismatic, warm, personable".

Prof Rowlands was personally appointed by Francis as one of the few women to have governance roles in the Catholic Church, a job she said would previously have been held by a bishop.

She said his popularity within the Church extended beyond, because he was someone who showed "moral leadership" on issues ranging from the treatment of refugees to the climate.

Prof Rowlands said his death was "a moment which feels very brittle and fragile on the global stage".

"I think he'll be mourned as a figure who's got that kind of moral leadership, who had real character, and who was able to speak, without constant caveat, about basic human moral obligations," she added.

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