BUENOS AIRES — San Lorenzo de Almagro, a top-division soccer club here, has holy beginnings. It was created in 1908 by Lorenzo Massa, a priest. One of the team’s nicknames is Los Santos (the Saints), and the team’s colors, blue and red, are said to correspond to the colors of the Virgin Mary’s robe.

Next to the stadium, the interior of a small chapel — the country’s only stadium with a chapel on its grounds — is adorned in San Lorenzo flags and décor.

So perhaps it is fitting that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is a San Lorenzo fan. He is No. 88,235 on the club’s member list.

Image The future pope with a jersey of the San Lorenzo de Almagro soccer team in Buenos Aires in May 2011. Credit... Juan Ayala/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The new pope grew up in Flores, a working-class neighborhood near the team’s stadium. His father was a soccer fan and also played basketball at the club.