The Canarian President Angel Victor Torres, invited today to Pope Francisco to visit Canary Islandsduring the greeting after the general audience in the Paul VI classroom in which the delegation from Club Deportivo Tenerife participated on the occasion of its centenary.
Torres went to the Vatican today together with the delegation from the football club, the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Peter Martinand the bishop Bernardo Alvarez to participate in the traditional Wednesday general audience celebrated by Pope Francisand after which they were able to greet the Argentine pontiff and make him some gifts.
The Canarian president described in declarations to EFE this greeting as “historical” due to the centenary of the soccer club and “very emotional” since the pope “is a personality that goes beyond the religious.”
“He is an example in everything, in the ethical and moral aspect and in his message of working for the most vulnerable,” he added.
He stressed that having organized this audience by CD Tenerife “was a success” and that “it puts the Canary Islands on the map”.
The delegation presented the pontiff with a pennant, a team shirt and scarf, and some Canarian pintaderas that, Torres explained, “reflect the pre-Hispanic reality of the Canary Islands and the aboriginal reality of our land.”
The anecdote of the greeting was that when the pope received the scarf he asked jokingly “if it was so cold in the Canary Islands”.
The occasion served for the president to invite Francisco to visit the Canary Islands. “If you can, it would be an honor,” he pointed out.
“We share the language, we share many things with both Argentina and Latin America and it has been a very special moment for Club Tenerife, for sport and for the Canary Islands as a whole,” he added.
Regarding the message that the pope sent due to the disaster caused by the eruption of the La Palma volcano, Torres commented that he knows that the pope has been “very aware of the suffering of La Palma, of the palm trees and palm trees, and we have to thank him for this.”
For his part, Pedro Martín stressed that it has been “a unique occasion” for him.
“Having the possibility of being close to talk to him about our island and if on top of that we do it with a Tenerife delegation that turns 100, it is something we will remember forever”.
Martín also reiterated the invitation to the pope: “Whatever you have is to invite him to the island. We all want him to be in our country, in our region and, if possible, go to Tenerife.”
