| St Peter's Cricket Club | |
.svg) | |
| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | HH The Pope (patron) HE Cardinal de Mendonça (presidentex officio) |
| Team information | |
| City | Vatican City |
TheVatican Cricket Team is anamateurcricketclub established by theVatican[1] for theCatholic Church to foster ties where the sport is popular, such as theBritish Commonwealth includingIndia and theCaribbean, thereby encouraging inter-faith dialogue.[2]
Prior to the official establishment of the Vatican Cricket Team, anad 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 theStadio 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 againstRoma Capannelle Cricket Club, with the Serie A club winning the match.[3]
In 2013, the "St Peter's Cricket Club", initially the idea ofAustralia'sambassador to theHoly 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 notVatican Citycitizens. 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 fromIndia[8] and some players fromEngland,Sri Lanka andPakistan also being selected.[9] The team is sponsored by thedicastery for Culture and Education,[10] and is supported bymembers of thePapal Orders of Knighthood.[11]
In 2017, the Vatican team visited a cricket stadium inMiranda 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" inEngland over the summer of 2018, playing the first fixture on tour against a specially-selectedStonyhurst CollegeGentlemen's XI from alumni of the famousRoman Catholicindependent 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 inRome and atthe Vatican, then played atLord's versus anAnglican team,[23][24] with other matches against aCommonwealth of NationsXI as well as theRoyal Household Cricket Club atWindsor.The team previously toured England in September 2014, playing theChurch of England and theRoyal Household of theBritish Royal Family.[9]
In 2024, the Pope's XI (as the Vatican Cricket Team is colloquially known) again played theKing's XI and St. Mary's University at Home Park, nearWindsor Castle, Westminster Abbey[dubious –discuss] and Arundel Castle. All the 2024 squad, consisting of priests and students who seek priesthood, areKeralites from India.[25][26]
During a visit toPakistan, representatives of the Vatican Cricket Team met withDr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan who proposed a series of matches against his own "Governor of SindhXI" consisting of Islamic theology students.[27]
