CELTIC FANS HIT STRAIGHT BACK AT RANGERS ULTRAS ’ ANTI-POPE GRAFFITI as THEY TAKE DIRECT ACTION IN ESCALATING FEUD

CELTIC ultras have wasted little time in hitting back at Rangers fans who made a shock graffiti taunt about the death of Pope Francis.

We told you how Ibrox ultras group the Union Bears had sparked fury by daubing a vile ‘No Pope of Rome’ slogan just hours after the death of the Pontiff.

But the building on Glasgow‘s MacLellan Street is regularly used for graffiti from fans of BOTH Old Firm clubs.

And SunSport’s images taken only this morning show that Celtic followers took only a matter of hours to paint back over the taunt with a slogan of their own.

The Union Bears daubed red, white and blue paint on a building at MacLellan Street, Tradeston, in Glasgow – including the words: “No Pope of Rome” and “Papa Francesco is dead”.

While a tiny bit of red paint was still visible underneath, Hoops fans hit back with the words ‘No Flags and Drums’.

That’s a reference to a claim previously made that Celtic ultras stole a job lot of the Union Bears’ equipment, adding the words: ‘Yer Flags and Drums are in Vatican’.

Current Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and a handful of players met the Pope on a trip to Italy to face Lazio last season.

The likes of Callum McGregor, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales met the Pope and presented him with a signed Celts shirt with ‘Francis’ on the back.

First minister John Swinney led tributes to the Pope as his death at the age of 88 sparked an outpouring of grief around the world.

In a statement published on Twitter/X, Mr Swinney said: “It is with deep sadness I heard the news this morning of the death of Pope Francis.

“He was a voice for peace, tolerance and reconciliation in our society.

“He brought comfort, assurance and hope to many. May he Rest in Peace.”

The Rangers anti-Pope slogan drew an angry reaction from fans, with one saying: “As a Rangers fan this disgusts me.

“How many of our own players are we offending here. I have no religious beliefs but I respect those who do. Keep it out of football.”

A second wrote: “A club for everyone?”

A third said: “Only thing they can celebrate this season is an 88 year old Argentinian man living in Rome dying. Bit depressing.”

In a football context, Rangers fans’ vile taunts had has echoes of the tasteless ‘Lizzie’s in a Box’ chants from fans of Celtic, Dundee Utd and Scotland around the time of the passing of Queen Elizabeth back in September 2022.

When contacted by the Scottish Sun, Police Scotland said no reports had been received about the matter.