Continuity or change at the Vatican? Two San Lorenzo fans, another big club, and a historic Argentine club, the clubs owned by the Argentine cardinals who could replace Pope Francis.

"I ask you one thing, Father: don't vote for another San Lorenzo fan."

The plea, in a relaxed tone, was received in Rome by Argentine Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic during a television broadcast. On the other side, the one making the plea was journalist Luli Trujillo , a renowned Huracán fan. The honor of having a crowed pope became a source of pride and a badge for Ciclón fans during these twelve years of Francis, which alternated between the divine Copa Libertadores of 2014 and the institutional Via Crucis the club is currently undergoing. But Jorge Bergoglio was more than just a crowed pope and an Argentine; he was a soccer-loving pope, who gave rise to the most popular sport in the world.

It's on display at the Vatican Museum, which compiled a collection of gifts from Boedo and the Argentine national team. It also includes the countless jerseys he received during official visits. Even Daniel Angelici gave him a Boca Juniors jersey when he was president.

Meanwhile, the Council of Cardinals arriving in Rome is debating, negotiating, and even operating to determine whether the next Church leader should continue the reforms brought about by Francis or return to a conservative path. More importantly, will the next Pope also be a soccer fan?

John Paul II , who led the Church from 1978 to 2005, was a Pope deeply involved in sports. He not only promoted it as a means of education, but also practiced it. As a young man, he played volleyball, cycled, and even escaped from the Vatican for a few hours to ski, according to his biographer, George Weigel.

But he was also a pope who played football. As a youngster, he played in the youth teams of KS Cracovia in Poland, a club he also supported. In the documentary "John Paul II Speaks to Sport," old friends of his mention that he had the talent to play forward but preferred to save. "I was the goalkeeper," Diego Maradona once mocked him for it. "I was the goalkeeper." "The Pope had everything against him."

His athleticism influenced his selection during the 1978 conclave, following the brief tenure (almost an interim) of John Paul I , who died 33 days after taking office from a heart attack. After that difficult time , the cardinals opted for a candidate in good health. They were right; he led the Church for 27 years.

A few months before his death in 2005, John Paul II welcomed the KS Cracovia squad, retiring the team's number 1 jersey as a tribute. However, it didn't bring them any luck: in almost three decades, their most famous fan, using God's cell phone, couldn't win them a single title.

His successor was the German Benedict XVI . He didn't need to be a manager: he was a fan of Bayern Munich , a team whose titles were practically falling out of their pockets despite last Saturday's slip .

Benedict XVI was not openly a football fan, although he recognized its social role. “As a team game, football requires an ordering of one's own within the whole; it unites through a common goal: the success and failure of each individual are determined by the success and failure of the whole,” he wrote in his 1985 text , Suchen, was droben ist (Seek What Is Above).

During his time as a cardinal, he became friends with coach Giovanni Trapattoni , during the period between 1994 and 1997 when he managed Bayern Munich. The coach said that the Pope gave him books to help him study the language.

Benedict was head of the church for eight years until 2013, when the Board of Directors asked him to resign: "God told me," he said when asked about the reasons for his departure.

Enter Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and member number 88,235 of San Lorenzo. The club moved quickly and capitalized on the rise to the throne of Saint Peter of one of its fans. Not only through social media, but also through T-shirts and flags bearing his image over the years. It was even announced that the stadium planned for construction on Avenida La Plata will bear the name of Pope Francis.

Jesuit Priest Bergoglio became a fan of the club founded by Salesian priest Lorenzo Massa thanks to a historic team: the historic 1946 champion he formed with Armando Farro, René Pontoni, and Rinaldo Martino.

"I particularly remember the 1946 championship, the one my San Lorenzo team won. I remember those days spent watching the footballers play and the joy we felt as children when we returned home: the joy, the happiness on our faces, the adrenaline in our blood," he remarked in an interview.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a fan of #SanLorenzo , is the first South American and Argentine pope. pic.twitter.com/FrRnyAYDna

— San Lorenzo (@SanLorenzo) March 13, 2013

Without Francis on the field, the cardinals are deliberating over who should be next on the Vatican bench . Like any team without a coach, the dance of names fills the hours as candidates emerge from all sides.

Today, the names of Italians Matteo Zuppi and Pietro Parolin , the Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle , the Ghanaian Peter Turkson , and the Maltese Mario Grech appear. But an old axiom says that those who enter the Conclave as papal candidates usually leave as cardinals, in a vote that has its own rules and rites that have remained intact for centuries. And it usually favors the underdogs.

What if angelic Argentina secures a second championship? The chances are low, but not zero. According to bookmakers, in 2006 Benedict XVI was paying 11 to 2.

There are four Argentine cardinals who will participate in the Conclave and, therefore, have a chance of being elected. Here, there is a detail of continuity or change with Francis's line: two of them are from San Lorenzo.

The first of these is the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Mario Aurelio Poli . With a pastoral approach similar to that of Francis, he is a promoter of dialogue. He has close ties to the Cuervo: he participated in the memorial mass held at the Ciudad Deportiva del Bajo Flores in honor of Bergoglio's tenth anniversary of papacy in 2013.

"I'm here because I'm from San Lorenzo," he said, according to statements reported on the club's official website. There, he was given an honorary membership card by then-president Horacio Arreceygor.

The second of them is Cardinal Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández , prefect of the Didicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a personal friend of Francis, who was one of his close collaborators. At 62 years old, he is a man of few words and interviews. However, in one of the few, he revealed a curious fact: his nickname, "Tucho," comes from the opposite side of the street: from an idol from Huracán.

Born in Alcira Gigena, a small town in Córdoba, Fernández Sr. was a San Lorenzo fan. So much so that he went crazy when they lost. At that time, one of the sensational forwards at Parque Patricios was Norberto "Tucho" Méndez , a midfielder for La Quema and the National Team who scored 123 goals. The cardinal's father's work friends used to tease him when Méndez scored against Ciclón in the derby matches.

"I'm from San Lorenzo, like my dad. And the name Tucho comes from the fact that he always scored goals against us and my dad went crazy. They teased him so much that the nickname stuck, and I inherited it," the now-Cardinal said in a 2014 interview with La Capital.

But beyond the crows, there are two other names making the rounds. One of them is Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba, a Jesuit and protégé of Francis since his early days.

When asked if he saw himself as the Pope, he jokingly responded, "Just like a French fry," before boarding the plane that took him to Rome. As fate would have it, upon arriving in the city, he ran into a Belgrano de Córdoba fan and couldn't resist taking a photo of himself covering one eye.

The father is a fan of El Pirata , according to Clarín sources from the Manos Abiertas Foundation, an organization he helped found in 1992 that distributes food and clothing to the poor. His position is clear: "Let's hope there isn't an abrupt change and that whoever succeeds Francisco takes up his legacy."

The last Argentine papal candidate is Bokalic Iglic , the archbishop of Santiago del Estero, of Slavic descent and currently the primate of Argentina. A globetrotter in the church, he served in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Corrientes, and San Juan before settling in Santiago.

The cardinal has a vision of the Church very similar to that of Pope Francis. His ecclesiastical career is marked by his dedication to social ministry and his closeness to the most vulnerable communities.

He's also a soccer fan. In his early days, he sympathized with Talleres de Remedios de Escalada and Lanús , the teams from the neighborhood where he grew up. However, as he explained in the interview with Trujillo, he's a River Plate fan. "I'm a fan of the red band, but we bond with everyone. There's no controversy," the cardinal said conciliatoryly.

A man of dialogue. What the Church may need right now: another Argentine soccer fan to calm the situation and seek consensus.