The prospects of a Vatican football team competing against the giants of the Italian league came a step closer yesterday. A league of 16 teams made up of seminarians, clergy and laymen studying in Rome will kick off next month. If it proves successful, a “dream team” will be selected to play in Vatican colours with the aim of lining up against the likes of Roma, AC Milan and Juventus.
According to the Centro Sportivo Italiano, a Catholic sports organisation close to the Holy See and the Italian Bishops’ Conference, there will be no games on Sundays, and players who in the heat of action forget themselves and utter the Lord’s name in vain will be immediately sent off.
The football teams will be drawn from the scores of Vatican institutions in and around Rome. These include the nine Vatican congregations, the equivalent of ministries, and in particular the six pontifical universities and the various national colleges, brimming with young men from the soccer-mad nations of Africa and Latin America. A team will also be fielded by the Swiss Guards.
The Vatican League Championship, called Clericus Cup, will kick off next month, and will be sponsored by one of the largest Italian insurance companies. The 16 teams will each be linked to a university, college or other institution.
The cup has the fervent support of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, and second-highest-ranking Vatican official after the Pope. He first proposed a single Vatican team, suggesting: “If we could draw from all the Brazilians studying in the Pontifical universities we could put together a magnificent team.”