It was precisely at that World Cup that he made a special promise to the Virgin.
In an interview in Moscow with the Argentine journalist Martín Arévalo, Messi was challenged by the reporter to walk “to Luján or to San Nicolás,” two of the most important shrines in Argentina, if the team won the World Cup.
Lujan, Argentina, is the site of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, the patroness of the country, which every year attracts millions of pilgrims.
In San Nicolás — a city near Rosario, Messi’s birthplace — is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás, which has a history of Marian apparitions that began in 1983 with messages from the Virgin to Gladys Quiroga de Motta.
The apparitions were approved by the Catholic Church on May 22, 2016, through a decree signed by the then bishop of San Nicolás, Héctor Cardelli.
In the 2018 Moscow interview, Messi promised that he would walk from his home in the town of Arroyo Seco to the Basilica of San Nicolás, a distance of about 24 miles, and shook hands with the journalist as a sign of commitment.
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