By Carlos Mendoza Álvarez
When God was round
A couple of decades ago, Juan Villoro described in his book "God is Round" the utopia of football, born as a sport of the plains and streets of the world, in terms of an urban party ritual that brought together children and young people around a plastic sphere, sometimes made of leather, as a celebration of the joy of dodging the opponent until scoring the goal that would be celebrated with cheers, jumps and hugs on the field and in the stands.
Nicholas of Cusa wrote his book "De ludo Globi" in 1462, a philosophical work that used the game of bowls of the time to describe the round cosmos with its world of planetary spheres as a metaphor for the perfection of divine creation and its imprint on human intelligence. Centuries later, in the collective imagination of our time, a round ball embodies that yearning for a world of equidistant extremes, a symbol that also sets people in motion on a field of dirt or grass.
The ancient Mesoamerican peoples had also ritualized this perfection of the sphere in the ball game, sacralizing - according to modern archaeology - the struggle between light and cosmic darkness in a ritual game that passed the rubber ball through a stone hoop, in a back-and-forth of blows with the hip, elbows and shoulders, where the joints of the human body mirrored the cosmos.
In modern times, FIFA has transformed the art of football into a business created by a television-driven industrial machine to voraciously manage the sport from the streets and pitches of the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Barcelona, Seoul, and Lagos. We proudly say that Mexico has hosted the World Cup three times, but from 1970 to the present, the television industry, colluding with corrupt governments—first the PRI and now its perverse clone, Morena—has corrupted the beautiful game, turning it into a multi-billion dollar business. It is astonishing to see the media propaganda that FIFA has deployed to justify its greed in the three host countries. And even more shameful is the subservience of the Mexican government, kneeling before this oligarchy that enjoys unprecedented tax privileges in our country and that has seized control of stadiums and public spaces like the Campo Marte of the Mexican Army and Chapultepec Castle to celebrate its avarice.
Fortunately, the magic of the Mesoamerican ball game, or the Italian Renaissance bowling game, and modern football persists wherever two teams display the fantasy of moving a sphere and the aim of achieving a goal to celebrate life.
A transcultural Pope
Pope Leo XIV has surprised the world with his fourth apostolic journey, now through Madrid, Barcelona and Gran Canaria, by summoning the people who live there - Castilians, Catalans and Latin Americans - to a celebration of life and human dignity.
I have been surprised by the clarity and courage with which the first transcultural Pope - an American son of migrants and Peruvian by choice, today a universal citizen by vocation - has encouraged people to care for the dignity of people and nature, especially migrants in forced mobility.
His speech in Tenerife was a direct attack on the human trafficking mafias, reminding them that they will have to answer to God for their criminal acts, and calling them to conversion and to stop enriching themselves at the expense of the suffering of the most vulnerable. Also memorable was his criticism of the “warlords” in his address to the Spanish Parliament, denouncing the use of God’s name in vain to justify wars that destroy peoples and cultures.
The inalienable dignity of migrants, the dignity of human life from its beginning to its end, the building of peace and the dismantling of the war industry, humanization in times of artificial intelligence as an instrument in the control of a handful of oligarchs, are the principles of an ethics for times of systemic violence that wave like flags in the speeches and gestures of Pope Leo.
It remains for us now, those of us who are part of the Church in its Roman Catholic tradition, to unite with the other spiritual traditions of humanity to resume the path of reconciled humanity in times of a growing spiral of violence.
Israelis in Chiapas
Chiapas civil society has raised concerns in recent weeks about the presence of Israeli veterans and soldiers on a “humanitarian” campaign in schools in Zinacantán.
In a brief survey of residents of that municipality, I was able to verify that in recent weeks, "foreign groups speaking English" have been offering painting and English workshops in primary schools in Nachig, Zinacantán, and Jech-Chentic. Some journalists warn of the danger that this group is Warriors Without Borders, presenting itself as the humanitarian organization Heroes of Life, thus whitewashing the image of the Israeli army worldwide, which is currently embroiled in the genocide of the Palestinian people with its Zionist ideology.
This presence is compounded by the recent visit of the Israeli consul and “security experts” to authorities in the state of Chiapas, ostensibly to exchange security experiences and to reassure them that this southeastern Mexican state is a safe place for Israeli visitors. The state secretary of security seems unaware that his visitors come from a genocidal state, implementing strategies and mechanisms of war against the Palestinian civilian population—acts considered war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
It is urgent to demand that the Chiapas state government make public any existing collaboration agreements with the Israeli government, its companies, and its organizations. And we, as part of civil society, must be vigilant and responsibly monitor the activities of Israeli organizations in Chiapas, especially those of its veterans, ex-combatants, and military personnel. For their part, the indigenous communities—which have thus far been the primary target of their “humanitarian” actions—have a responsibility to safeguard the common good at stake in their communities, particularly their schools and educational and recreational groups, to prevent the manipulation of children and youth by ideologies of death that threaten their territories.
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God is no longer round because the masters of global war, genocidal states, and criminal mafias have created the dystopia in which we live today on a planetary scale, perverting the festival of football as a business and domination of peoples in their national teams that were trapped in the FIFA industry.
Fortunately, the playful sense of existence is preserved by communities, especially those that confront systemic violence and yet celebrate life amidst death. In these communities beats the stubborn hope that the world can be harmonious by embracing the differences of peoples, cultures, and spiritualities as a numinous polyhedron.
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, June 13, 2026