Catholics involved include Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Italian international Andrea Pirlo.

They will be joined by self-professed "non-practising Muslim" Zinedine Zidane, who manages Real Madrid, and Italian Buddhist convert Roberto Baggio.

Other stars include Japan's Yuto Nagatomo and Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o.

The idea for the game on September 1 came out of a meeting between football fan Pope Francis and the Argentine and Italian teams last year.

Former Internationale captain and Argentine player Javier Zanetti suggested the Vatican organise a sporting event for people of different religions.

All the proceeds will be donated to a schools network set up by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences and supported by Messi and Buffon called Scholas Occurrentes, and to the PUPI Foundation, a children's charity in Buenos Aires set up by Zanetti and his wife Paula.

Messi won the Golden Ball award as the outstanding player in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

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The teams met Wednesday in Rome in a friendly match.

The pope told the players to remember they are role models on and off the field ‘‘for better or worse.'' He asked for their prayers for himself ‘‘on the playing field God put me on.''

Twelve years after Italy and Argentina last played, the two predominantly Roman Catholic and soccer-mad nations are renewing their storied rivalry in a game dedicated to Pope Francis - an Argentine and a big soccer fan.

The last time these teams met was in 2001 - also an exhibition in Rome that Argentina won 2-1. Before that, Diego Maradona's Argentina eliminated host Italy from the 1990 World Cup on penalty kicks in a semifinal in Naples.

Italian coach Cesare Prandelli came up with the idea of organizing the game.

"It was just a sudden flash, after watching Pope Francis and his first appearances in public," he recently told sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"He generated a tremendous sense of fondness and approval. The thought of ‘his countries', Italy and Argentina, immediately entered my head. Two squads leaving together, from the same hotel, to have an audience full of joy and happiness with the pope."

Sources

AP/Boston.Com

AP/The Washington Post

Gazzetta del Sud

Image: AP/Boston.Com