A DECISION to introduce a 12:30pm Sunday fixture in the 2010-11 Serie A professional Italian soccer competition schedule has annoyed the Vatican, Football Italia reports. The new time on the match calendar has been introduced to appease pay-per-view television companies who want to spread the fixture list out over the weekend - but it has not been universally welcomed by fans.
And now the Vatican has stepped in to the debate.
"I consider this a truly harmful development," said Monsignor Carlo Mazza in Italian sport newspaper, Tuttosport.
"Putting people in front of the television screen at 12:30, when they are having lunch with their families, to me seems like a pitch invasion on life."
"Family time is a very important institution and we cannot sell it off to other events."