Vatican City, May 31, 2017 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Upon winning the Vatican's annual soccer championship last week, the victorious team honored Christians in Egypt who have faced increasingly brutal persecution in recent years.
“I would like to dedicate this trophy to our friends from the Coptic Church,” said Deacon Sama Joan Romeo of Cameroon, the team captain of the Urban Lions.
Catholic seminarians and clergy drew soccer teams from the pontifical universities and colleges of Rome May 27 for the 13th annual Clericus Cup competition.
The competition's press officer, Felice Alborghetti, said the competition should be considered a “world cup” because players from five continents and 66 countries are on the teams, which went through four qualifying rounds to reach the finals.
“In the final we have at least 20 countries (represented),” he told the EWTN news show Vaticano. “There are a lot of Europeans, Spaniards, Rumanians, Germans, a Croatian and a Hungarian player.”
African players are heavily represented on the team from the Pontifical Urban University, nicknamed “The Lions of Africa.” They hail from countries including Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania and Botswana.
“All the world is playing in the field, not so much to highlight the word of soccer, as that of the Gospel,” Alborghetti said.
Over 400 players competed, but the May 27 finals came down to two teams: one from the Pontifical Gregorian University, called “Gregoriana,” the other from the Pontifical Urban University, the “Urban Lions.”
Classmates and fans of the teams gathered to show support in the bleachers around a field in view of St. Peter's Basilica. Some wore painted faces and played guitars. The rectors of both schools cheered on their teams.
Monsignor Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, reflected on the nature of the competition.
“We're very committed to supporting our own team,” he told Vaticano. “Our university is trying to give thorough training programs, with a global and academic reach – which is very important to us – but also human and spiritual training and sport is part of this thorough approach.”
The players have also “sacrificed a lot to be here,” said Monsignor Vincenzo Viva, rector of the Urban College. “We mustn't forget that it’s the exam period now at the university, so they've really made a great effort.”
Amid the festivities, the final match of 2017 began with a serious moment of prayer. Then the opening whistle blew.
The Urban Lions took advantage, scoring the first goal. With high passions, the bleachers roared. There were fouls and penalties. Then a corner kick led to a second goal for the Urban Lions.
They took the match, and the Clericus Cup, with a 2-0 win.
“We came here and we knew we could win because last year we almost won the cup, and anyway it was a great match and a match of brotherhood,” said Antonio, an Angolan a seminarian from the Urban College. “This is the joy of being here and taking part in all this.”
Pour Porbumbi, a Kenyan seminarian at the same college, noted the fans' effort to sing and sing so that their team could play well.
Deacon Sama Joan Romeo added that the team is “not playing for honor or for any glory, we are just playing for friendship, for fraternity for our spiritual goals.”
The win marks the third time the Urban College's team has won a Clericus Cup.
Article Archive
Vatican soccer champs dedicate victory to Coptic Christians
Related Articles • More Articles
Father Eduardo Chávez has been immersed in the study and dissemination of the message of the Virgin of Guadalupe for more than 40 years. / Credit: David Ramos/ACI PrensaACI Prensa Staff, May 14, 2024 / 15:52 pm (CNA).Father Eduardo Chávez, director of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies and postulator of the cause for canonization of St. Juan Diego, was recently confirmed as "master Guadalupan theologian" by Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, the primatial archbishop of Mexico.The decision was made May 9 in conjunction with the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, headed by its rector, Father Efraín Hernández.Chávez, who also holds a doctorate in Church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, shared with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, his gratitude for this appointment, committing himself to "deepen knowledge of the Guadalupan event, to disseminate it throughout the world."Chávez noted that "the Virgin of Guadalupe places Je...
null / ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 16:22 pm (CNA).An English pediatrician who led a comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs to children is warning that health associations in the United States may be misleading the public.In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Dr. Hilary Cass warned there is no comprehensive evidence to support the routine prescription of transgender drugs to minors with gender dysphoria. Cass published the independent "Cass Review," commissioned by the National Health Service in England, which prompted England and Scotland to halt the prescription of transgender drugs to minors until more research is conducted.As England, Scotland, and other European countries scale back their use of transgender drugs for minors, most doctors' associations and health associations in the U.S. continue to endorse these medical inter...
Members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, biological women's sports activist Riley Gaines, and lawyers from the Independent Women's Law Center approach the 10th Circuit Courthouse in Denver on May 14, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Independent Women's ForumWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 18:11 pm (CNA).Six members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming are suing their sorority for admitting a man who identifies as a woman.Represented by the Independent Women's Law Center (IWLC), the sisters argued their case before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Tuesday. The women are alleging that the sorority's decision in fall 2022 to admit a man, Artemis Langford, violated its bylaws, which state that all members be women. The sisters have also said that Langford has harassed them in their sorority house by watching them change, taking photos, and asking "invasive" sexual questions. Allie Coghan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma a...