Vatican soccer team kicks off soon

A Vatican soccer team, to be selected from the best players in a 16 team soccer league made up of seminarians, clergy and lay men studying in Rome is being launched next month. According to the Catholic sports organisation, Centro Sportivo Italiano, 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 many religious institutions in and around Rome, including the nine Vatican congregations, 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, is to 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 the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. He first proposed a Vatican team, suggesting: "If we could draw from all the Brazilians studying in the Pontifical universities we could put together a magnificent team." Source: CSI/Church Resources