Serie A matches postponed after death of Pope Francis: Monday matches delayed two days, Coppa Italia procedes

The Italian Serie A have announced that all the games scheduled on Monday will be postponed after the death of Pope Francis, who the Vatican announced died early Monday morning at 88 years old. The Italian Serie A issued an official statement a few minutes later and announced that “following the passing of His Holiness, Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A can confirm that today’s league games in Serie A and Primavera 1 have been postponed. The date of the rearranged fixtures will be announced in due course.” Those games have been rescheduled for Wednesday, and will be played alongside the Coppa Italia matches already scheduled for that date.

As millions of worldwide pilgrims are expected to travel to Rome with the death of a Pope, the world of soccer will be affected in multiple ways. First of all, while Italy is clearly tightly connected to the Catholic Church and the figure of the Pope, his death presents a practical concern as a matter of public security. A wide array of domestic Italian organizations and security will be focused on the event of his mourning. 

When the Pope dies, after nine days of mourning, the funeral takes place at the St. Peter Basilica before the start of a new Conclave that will elect the new bishop of Rome. This is a particular eventful year as well, as the Church is celebrating the Catholic Jubilee, the first one since 2000, further heightening the security and logistical burden on the Italian government and Rome’s metropolitan government.

Let’s take as an example what happened in April 2005, when Pope John Paul II died after being in charge of the Vatican Church since 1978. The Italian FA immediately announced that the games that weekend were all postponed. 

Former Italian Olympic Committee president Gianni Petrucci announced the decision in this way back then: “It was the only decision to be taken.” Shortly after that, the UEFA Champions League’s Derby della Madonnina quarter final’s first leg between Inter and AC Milan was played regularly at San Siro. 

However, when Pope Benedict XVI died on December 31 2022 the Italian Serie A was in the middle of the winter break, as the league stopped from December 23 to January 4 during the 2022-23 season. That was also a different case, as Joseph Ratzinger decided to step down in 2013 before the conclave that elected Pope Francis for personal reasons, becoming the first Pope to step down from his duties since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, and thus was not the active Pope at the time of his death.