Vatican cricket team faces England’s King Charles at Windsor Castle

The Vatican cricket team, made up of priests and seminarians, is in England to compete in different matches as part of the “Light of Faith” tour.

“St Peter’s Cricket Club” was founded in 2014 and is made up of seminarians and priests studying in Rome.

This team, from Athletica Vaticana, operates under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Culture and its objective is to promote ecumenical and interreligious dialogue through sport.

As reported by Vatican News, the athletes have been in London since June 28 and during these days they have faced the England senior team and the University of St Mary.

On Wednesday, July 3, they concluded their tour with a match in the gardens of the British royal family’s Windsor Castle, against the “King’s XI” team, the group of King Charles of England.

Pope Francis and King Charles, according to the Vatican’s official media, sent messages to each other before the match between both teams.

Father Eamonn O’Higgins, head of the Vatican team, conveyed the greetings of the Holy Father to the players, who hoped that this would be an occasion to “build bridges of fraternal solidarity, promote Christian unity and advance generous initiatives.” charitable.”

For his part, King Charles assured that he is looking forward to knowing the result and also expressed his joy that both teams were facing each other “for the love of cricket.”

As reported on their social networks, the Vatican team lost by a narrow margin of 2 “wickets” in the last round.

“Despite the defeat, the match was exciting until the end, and the performances of the priests and players were highly praised by the spectators,” they wrote on their Facebook profile. Likewise, the athletes had a moment of prayer in the chapel of San Jorge.

In addition, the Holy Father was able to greet members of the Vatican team before his trip to England during a General Audience in Rome.