An Italian soccer club is seeking spiritual help in its drive to return to the top flight.
AC Ancona was in Serie A as recently as 2004 but was double-relegated after going bankrupt. It has rallied, however, and is currently topping the third division.
But the club's new owners, the Schiavoni family, still think Ancona can do with all the help it can get - from higher powers if need be.
Ancona Chairman Sergio Schiavone and his son Giampiero, the club's CEO, have turned to Italy's main Catholic sports body in a bid to make sure it wins promotion to Serie B.
The agreement with the Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI), an organisation of lay Catholics, reportedly includes a commitment by both club and players to do good works "in remission of sins on the field," according to the CSI ethics code.
The world's media have got hold of the story and dubbed Ancona a "Vatican team" aiming to "get an edge from the Almighty".
Film crews from the BBC and two German TV stations were on hand to record Ancona's Sunday win that kept it co-leader of Serie C-1. They filed reports highlighting that Ancona - from the historically Communist Marche port of the same name - had committed no fouls during the match on its ongoing "mission from God" .
But on Monday the Vatican denied having anything to do with the Ancona-CSI deal - although it looked "benevolently" on such charity and anti-hooligan moves.
"To my knowledge, neither the Vatican nor the Italian Bishops Conference have absolutely any connection with Ancona," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
However, he said the link-up between the club and the CSI was "praiseworthy and positive, especially at times like this" - a reference to recent Italian soccer violence.
Giampiero Schiavoni confirmed that the club had no hotline to the Vatican but, acting through the CSI, would fund social work in Italy and Africa.
He said that, "unless there are any last-minute changes," players and managment were still slated to meet Pope Benedict XVI at an audience on Wednesday, where they would give him a club shirt with a No.16 on the back.
A green light has also reportedly been given for a Wednesday afternoon match between Ancona and the winners of this summer's inaugural Clericus Cup for Rome priests and seminarians.
Meanwhile Ancona's famously left-wing fans, who regularly wave Che Guevara banners and campaign against neo-Fascists, said they welcomed any "worthwhile social initiatives" but did not expected to be "muzzled" by the club's new Catholic turn.
"We have ourselves fought for over 25 years to keep violence out of grounds and having to stick to an overt religious line would be an unacceptable infringement of our freedom of expression," the supporters' club said.
