Friendly Match between Roma and San Lorenzo at the Vatican

Pope Francis received the delegations of the Italian team Roma and the Argentine team San Lorenzo de Almagro, who will play a friendly match tomorrow. The proceeds from the match will be donated to support the victims of the earthquake that struck Italy on August 24th.

At the end of the audience, Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and the players presented the Pope with a club shirt bearing the name "Francesco" and the number 1, the dorsal the Pontiff has said he wore when he was a goalkeeper in his youth, as reported on Roma's website.

Pope Francis signed the "giallorosso" shirt, which will be auctioned off and the proceeds will also go to the victims of the August 24th earthquake.

"Roma expresses its gratitude to Pope Francis for the extraordinary opportunity granted with this morning's audience at the Vatican with the delegation from San Lorenzo de Almagro, from Buenos Aires," the Italian club stated.

The Pope, on the other hand, gave both delegations a historic San Lorenzo shirt, of which he is a fan, and an artistic emblem of Roma, according to Radiovaticana.

The two teams will play tomorrow at the Olympic Stadium (18:00 local time, 16:00 GMT) in a friendly match organized as part of the Family Festival, promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

In tomorrow's match, the historic captain of the Romans Francesco Totti, Argentine Diego Perotti, and all the players who have not been called up by their respective national teams will participate.

Roma also announced that it has opened an online platform for all players, even from other clubs, to contribute to supporting the earthquake victims.