The Vatican says it is unlikely that Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, would get together to watch their home teams in the World Cup final on Sunday.

Vatican spokesman the Reverend Federico Lombardi said the final is on a bit late for Argentina's Francis and acknowledged with a chuckle that German-born Benedict was not known as a sports fan. But he did not rule anything out, saying: "We'll see in the coming days."

Pope Francis has already given his word that there will be no papal intervention in Argentina's fortunes, promising he would not pray for any team. Mr Lombardi said: "Both would want the better team to win, without taking sides."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.