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Top cardinal dreams of Vatican FC
By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Rome

A Serie A match between Palermo (white) and Roma in Rome on 17 December 2006
The Vatican wants its team to compete with Serie A's best
A senior Roman Catholic cardinal says he hopes the Vatican may one day field a football team good enough to compete with Italy's top sides.

Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone envisaged a team that might challenge famous Serie A clubs like Roma, Inter Milan and Sampdoria.

He said the Church's seminaries and Catholic youth clubs around Italy were full of talented footballers.

He said they would gladly pull on the Vatican's yellow-and-white colours.

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"I do not preclude the possibility that the Vatican, in the future, could put together a football team of great value, that could play on the same level as Roma, Inter Milan and Sampdoria," he said.

In a football league that has been mired in corruption and controversy, this is perhaps a timely intervention.