| St Peter's Cricket Club | |
 | |
| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | HH The Pope (patron) HE Cardinal de Mendonça (president ex officio) |
| Team information | |
| City | Vatican City |
The Vatican Cricket Team is an amateur cricket club established by the Vatican [1] for the Catholic Church to foster ties where the sport is popular, such as the British Commonwealth including India and the Caribbean, thereby encouraging inter-faith dialogue. [2]
Prior to the official establishment of the Vatican Cricket Team, an ad hoc Vatican XI played its first (international) match against the Netherlands-based Fellowship Of Oddly Odd Countries Cricket Club. The match was played on 13 September 2008 at the Stadio dei Marmi where, using an impromptu pitch, the Vatican side scored 107 runs for the loss of just one wicket; FFOP CC was all out for 58, in a 35-over match. Its first cricket match was in May 2008, a friendly game against Roma Capannelle Cricket Club, with the Serie A club winning the match. [3]
In 2013, the "St Peter's Cricket Club", initially the idea of Australia's ambassador to the Holy See, John McCarthy, announced its formation. [4] The club was tasked with recruiting players from among the "300 seminarians and priests housed at Catholic colleges and seminaries around Rome", therefore not Vatican City citizens. The most talented players were to be invited to join the Vatican Cricket Team, or "the Vatican XI". [5] The Vatican plays its home matches at the Roma Capannelle Cricket Ground, home of Roma Capannelle CC, [6] the only international cricket ground in Rome. [7]
The Vatican Cricket Team was established in June 2014 with the initial squad consisting of "priests, deacons and seminarians", primarily recruited from India [8] and some players from England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan also being selected. [9] The team is sponsored by the dicastery for Culture and Education, [10] and is supported by members of the Papal Orders of Knighthood. [11]
In 2017, the Vatican team visited a cricket stadium in Miranda do Corvo [12] for the third "Light of Faith Tour", being greeted with a Fire Brigade Salute. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
The Vatican Cricket Team undertook its fourth "Light of Faith Tour" in England over the summer of 2018, playing the first fixture on tour against a specially-selected Stonyhurst College Gentlemen's XI from alumni of the famous Roman Catholic independent school. [20] Founded in 1593, Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic boarding and day school, occupying a magnificent Grade I-listed building in Lancashire and the oldest Jesuit school in the world. [21] The tour commenced at Stonyhurst on 4 July 2018 in acknowledgement of the school's long history of combining faith, academics and sporting excellence. [22]
The Vatican XI, comprising priests, deacons and seminarians studying and working in Rome and at the Vatican, then played at Lord's versus an Anglican interfaith team, [23] [24] with other matches against a Commonwealth of Nations XI as well as the Royal Household Cricket Club at Windsor. The team previously toured England in September 2014, playing the Church of England and the Royal Household of the British Royal Family. [9]
In 2024, the Pope's XI (as the Vatican Cricket Team is colloquially known) is again to play the King's XI and St. Mary’s University at Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey and Arundel Castle. The 2024 squad, consisting of priests and students who seek priesthood, are Keralites [25] [26]
During a visit to Pakistan, representatives of the Vatican Cricket Team met with Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan who proposed a series of matches against his own "Governor of Sindh XI" consisting of Islamic theology students. [27]
Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian thought in Late antiquity and used in Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration to the present day, especially in the Catholic Church. It includes words from Vulgar Latin and Classical Latin re-purposed with Christian meaning. It is less stylized and rigid in form than Classical Latin, sharing vocabulary, forms, and syntax, while at the same time incorporating informal elements which had always been with the language but which were excluded by the literary authors of Classical Latin.
Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic private school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The school has been fully co-educational since 1999.
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Richard Frank Stika is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville in Tennessee from 2009.
Anglican–Roman Catholic dialogue is the historical communication between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, through their ecumenical relations. These were notably shaped subsequent to the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or personal ordinariate of the Catholic Church for Anglican converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in their services. The ordinariate was established by the Vatican in 2012.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. It is organized to serve groups of Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church in Australia and Asia. Personal ordinariates, like military ordinariates and dioceses, are immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome. The motto of the ordinariate is Mea Gloria Fides. The current apostolic administrator is Anthony Randazzo, who succeeded the second ordinary, Carl Reid, in 2023.
Oliver John Douglas Pope is an English professional cricketer who plays for the England cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batter who occasionally plays as a wicket-keeper. He made his Test debut against India in 2018.
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Roma Capannelle Cricket Club is a Serie A cricket team founded in 1978 in Rome. It is one of the most successful teams in Italy, as well as being one of the oldest and with the most years of militancy in Serie A Cricket. With four Serie A titles, ten Italian Cups, five Italian Trophies, and one Championship Six a side for the first team are joined by two women's Serie A titles and the youth Champions of Italy titles: five times Under 13, four Under 13, two Under 17 and one Under 19.
Sport in Vatican City plays an important role in the culture of the nation. The Vatican's attitude toward sport has been positive; outside of competitive play, it is stated to be a way of spirituality, interfaith dialogue, promoting peace with other nations, diplomacy, and fraternity. With this, the nation has teams that compete in athletics, cricket, cycling, football, padel, and taekwondo.
