Italy’s match against Wales in the Women’s Six Nations has been moved to Sunday due to the funeral of Pope Francis.
The game was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday lunchtime, ahead of Scotland facing Ireland and the grand slam decider between England and France later in the afternoon, but has been postponed to the following day.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Monday aged 88. His funeral will be held at St Peter's Square on Saturday in front of the Basilica of St Peter before the burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The Women’s Six Nations explained that, in-line with all other sporting activity in Italy being suspended, the match would instead take place on Sunday afternoon, with a kick-off of 12:30 PM local time. A one-minute silence will be observed ahead of the fixture.
Wales have lost all four of their games in this season's tournament and will finish with the wooden spoon if they are beaten by Italy.
On Tuesday, Italy's National Olympic Committee called for the suspension of all sporting events scheduled for Saturday and the tournament said both the Italian Rugby Federation and the Welsh Rugby Union agreed to respect their request.
“Following the recent and sad passing of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, Six Nations Rugby, the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), and Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) are unified in respecting the invite from the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò, for National Sport's Federations, the Associated Sports Disciplines and the Sports Promotion Bodies in Italy to suspend all sporting events in the country on Saturday 26th April 2025, in conjunction with the funeral of the Holy Father Pope Francis.
“The kick-off times and dates of Scotland vs Ireland and England vs France remain unaffected. Scotland vs Ireland will kick-off at 14:30pm on Saturday at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh while England vs France is scheduled for a 16:45 start at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham on Saturday.
“The game was still be played at the original venue of Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, Italy on Sunday. “
Serie A also postponed Saturday's three fixtures until Sunday due to the Pope’s funeral. The league postponed Monday's matches after the Pope's death, with the games rescheduled for Wednesday.
