The body of the King of Football, Pelé, was buried this Tuesday afternoon (3) at the Ecumenical Necropolis Memorial, in Santos, in a private ceremony attended only by family members and close friends. The burial began around 2 pm (Brasília time), after the fire engine traveled through the streets of Santos with the body of Edson Arantes do Nascimento in a procession that lasted about three and a half hours. At the Memorial, Pelé’s body will be in a mausoleum on the first floor of the Ecumenical Necropolis Memorial. The body of the King of Football’s father, Dondinho, is buried in the same Memorial. Wake and parade More than 230,000 fans paid their last respects to Pelé, whose wake open to the public came to an end at 10 am this Tuesday at Vila Belmiro, Santos stadium. One hour before the end of the ceremony, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived to say a final goodbye to the King of Football. Accompanied by First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, and by the Minister of Ports and Airports, Márcio França, Lula stood beside the former player’s body during a prayer in an area reserved for family members and authorities that lasted approximately 20 minutes. The president left the stadium without speaking to the press. In a message posted on Twitter, he returned to mourn Pelé’s death. Pelé’s death is an irreparable loss for Brazil. I was in Vila Belmiro today to say goodbye to our football king, as President of the Republic, but also as a citizen who admired the art he produced on the pitch. Rest in peace.🎥: @ricardostuckert pic.twitter.com/UooztBrGTB — Lula (@LulaOficial) January 3, 2023 In a recorded statement to the Santos club, Lula also recalled the times when Corinthians, his favorite team, was a customer of Fish. “Look, who is going to talk about Pelé now is not the President of the Republic. He’s a Corinthians fan who went to watch a lot of Santos’ games against Corinthians and saw Corinthians lose a lot of games. And it seems to me that Pelé was obsessed with defeating Corinthians, he was obsessed with beating Corinthians. So, it was a very painful period of 15 years for Corinthians, but there was one very important thing about Pelé: he made us go anywhere to watch a football game. I think that Pelé symbolizes everything that is the rise of the human species. He was a player who, very young, gained extraordinary protagonism and the most fantastic thing is that Pelé was never masked, never had his nose in the air, he was always a humble citizen who talked as equals. He was very special”. After closing the gates, the coffin with Pelé’s body left Vila Belmiro on top of a fire truck for a procession through the streets of the coastal city of São Paulo. The route included Avenida Coronel Joaquim Montenegro (Channel 6), where Celeste Arantes, Pelé’s mother, lives. Watch on TV Brazil:
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