Vatican City, May 31, 2017 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Upon winning the Vatican's annual soccer championship last week, the victorious team honored Christians in Egypt who have faced increasingly brutal persecution in recent years.
“I would like to dedicate this trophy to our friends from the Coptic Church,” said Deacon Sama Joan Romeo of Cameroon, the team captain of the Urban Lions.
The Clericus Cup is the annual football tournament in Rome between various seminaries and Pontifical Universities and Institutes from around the city. The tournament was founded by the football mad then Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone and has been running for 10 years. Since its inception, it has grown rapidly, this year it included 16 teams over four groups.Catholic seminarians and clergy drew soccer teams from the pontifical universities and colleges of Rome May 27 for the 13th annual Clericus Cup competition.Two seminarians of the Scots College featured in the annual Clericus Cup Final for the Gregorian University team.
This year, the Gregorian side featured two members of the Scots College community. Mark O’Donnell of the Diocese of Motherwell, in his 5th year of studies in Rome, and Emmanuel Alagbaoso, who was ordained as a deacon for the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles at the end of April, have been turning out regularly for the university side that also features players from Portugal, The Netherlands and England amongst others.
Congratulations to them and all the teams who featured in the 2017 Clericus Cup tournament.