World Cup, Brazil, the controversy over the “steak case”: “Why so much ostentation”

From our correspondent Sebastiano Vernazza

December 5th
Doha (Qatar)

Father Julio Lancelotti, a descendant of Italians who emigrated to Brazil, is a priest with one million and 200 thousand followers on Instagram. He is the parish priest of a church in the Mooca, the most Italian district of São Paulo. Always on the side of the poor and the sick, a street priest in a good way. On his account, father Lancelotti attacked the Seleçao players who, in recent days, after the victory against Switzerland, together with Ronaldo the Phenomenon went to dinner in Doha, in the restaurant of the Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, known as Salt Bae. A chef who cooks meat with golden leaves and who slices it with scenographic movements. The prices are consequent, a golden fillet can cost 300 euros. Father Lancelotti published the video of the evening with Eder Militao, Vinicius, Gabriel Jesus, who later got injured, and Ronaldo: “While millions of people die of hunger around the world, this video arouses indignation and sadness. Why so much ostentation?”. For a dinner at Salt Bae’s you can spend over a thousand euros each, whereas in Brazil the minimum monthly wage is equivalent to around 250 euros. The video of the dinner, re-posted by the priest of São Paulo on his own account, generated over a million views and thousands of comments against the event of such luxury.

Not just dinners

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In Brazil, the photo of Casemiro at a press conference with a watch worth around half a million dollars on his left wrist went viral. An Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-thin Openworked 16204OR, assure the experts who magnified and analyzed the image. Eder Militao, in the golden steak dinner, wore an object of similar value, a Rolex Daytona Rainbow 116595, valued at 574 thousand dollars. Father Lancelotti posted a sentence by Sadio Mané, Senegalese striker of Bayer Monaco: “Why should I have ten Ferraris, twenty watches and two planes? I built some schools and a stadium. We provide food, clothing and shoes to people in extreme poverty. I prefer people to receive a little of what life has given me”. Petty demagoguery? Perhaps, but perhaps Father Lancelotti is right on one point: why flaunt luxury? A minimum of sobriety wouldn’t hurt, but this goes for all those who are part of the star system, not just for Brazil players on free leave. Social media should be used with greater discretion.