At the eleventh hour of 2022, we witnessed the death of a man who inspired fanatical devotion, a singular figure who captured the attention of the entire world, forever altering the course of history upon answering his calling and dedicating his life to his noble vocation. (Also, Pope Benedict XVI died.)
Just shy of two weeks after the final whistle of FIFA World Cup Qatar, Pelé died in Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, from where he was processed through the streets of Santos, the home of his football club. His final resting place, the ninth floor of the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, is just a short walk away from the Santos stadium. The mausoleum itself seems to conform to a strict football theme; there’s a turf floor, there are Pelé statues at the door; there are football memorabilia surrounding the star’s embalmed body. Pelé’s forever home doesn’t seem too different—neither in its ornateness nor in the number of pilgrims it is sure to attract—from the Vatican Grottoes, where Joseph Ratzinger now lies under St. Peter’s Basilica.