Pelé is buried after a procession through the streets of Santos
The body of the King of Soccer, Pelé, was buried on Tuesday afternoon (3) at the Memorial Necropolis Ecumenical, in Santos, in a reserved ceremony attended only by family and close friends.
The burial began around 2 pm (Brasília time), after the fire engine drove through the streets of Santos with Edson Arantes do Nascimento's body in a procession that lasted about three and a half hours.
At the Memorial, Pelé's body will remain in a mausoleum on the second floor of the Ecumenical Memorial Necropolis. The body of the King of Football's father, Dondinho, is buried at the same Memorial.
Funeral and Procession
More than 230,000 fans paid their last respects to Pelé, whose public wake came to an end at 10 a.m. this Tuesday at Vila Belmiro, Santos' stadium. One hour before the end of the ceremony, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived to bid the final farewell to the King of Soccer. Accompanied by first lady Rosângela da Silva, Janja, and by the Minister of Ports and Airports, Márcio França, Lula stood next to the body of the former player during a prayer in an area reserved for family and authorities that lasted approximately 20 minutes. The president left the stadium without talking to the press. In a message posted on Twitter, he again regretted the death of Pelé.
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.
— Lula (@LulaOficial) January 3, 2023
🎥: @ricardostuckert pic.twitter.com/UooztBrGTB
In a recorded statement to the Santos club, Lula also recalled the times when Corinthians, his favorite team, was a pariah of the Peixe.
"Look, who is going to talk about Pelé now is not the president of the Republic. It's a Corinthians fan who watched many Santos games against Corinthians and saw Corinthians lose many games. And it seems to me that Pelé had an obsession with beating Corinthians, he had an obsession with beating Corinthians. So, it was a very painful 15-year period for the Corinthians fans, but there was something very important about Pelé: he made people go anywhere to watch a soccer match. I think Pelé symbolizes everything that is the ascension of the human species. He was a player who, at a very young age, gained an extraordinary protagonism and the most fantastic thing is that Pelé was never masked, never stuck his nose up, he was always a humble citizen who talked on equal terms. He was very special.
After the gates were closed, the coffin with Pelé's body left Vila Belmiro on a fire truck and was paraded through the streets of the seaside city of São Paulo. The route included Coronel Joaquim Montenegro Avenue (Channel 6), where Celeste Arantes, Pelé's mother, lives.
