Pilgrims flock to pay tribute to pope lying in state
Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the beautiful game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with football metaphors in his homeland.
Pope Francis’s funeral will be held on Saturday, the Vatican announced, as world leaders from US President Donald Trump to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said they would attend to honour the Catholic leader.
Pope Francis died yesterday, aged 88, prompting mourning across the world for the energetic reformer who inspired devotion from Catholics but riled traditionalists during a 12-year papacy.
Football is often compared to a religion for its fans, and Francis held numerous giant masses in football stadiums during trips abroad.
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid were also among a slew of top-flight clubs joining La Liga in expressing their condolences for Francis.
The Italian football federation (FIGC) announced that all games across professional and amateur football on Monday would be rescheduled to a later date.
Following are reactions to death o Pope Francis
Here are some facts about Pope Francis, who has died at the age of 88
Pope Francis has dismissed the church's chief of doctrine, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller -- one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican -- and appointed a Spanish archbishop to the role, the Vatican said Saturday.
Pope Francis urges US President Donald Trump to be a peacemaker at their highly anticipated first meeting today, and Trump promises he will not forget the pontiff's message.
Pope Francis criticises the naming of the US military's biggest non-nuclear explosive as "the Mother of All Bombs", saying the word "mother" should not be used in reference to a deadly weapon.
Pope Francis proclaims Mother Teresa a saint, hailing her work with the destitute of Kolkata as a beacon for mankind and testimony of God's compassion for the poor.
Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them.
Pope Francis approves measures to sack bishops who mishandle child sexual abuse cases, a papal decree says.
Pope Francis has met the grand imam of Cairo's al-Azhar mosque after a five-year pause in dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the mosque, the highest authority of Sunni Islam.
Armed with such assessments, donor countries must structure assistance in a way that mitigates corruption risks. Military or development assistance is not apolitical. Programmes must be tailored to ensure that funds are not captured by kleptocratic elites. This means that anti-corruption efforts can no longer be shunted off to under-resourced specialists; they must be central to the planning of major development initiatives or the sale of costly weapons systems. Recipient governments must understand that funding will dry up if they continue to squander or steal it.
Pope Francis has taken 12 Syrian migrants back with him to the Vatican after visiting a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Pope Francis preaches an Easter message of hope after a grim week in Europe, calling on Christians not to let fear and pessimism "imprison" them.
