VATICAN CITY: FIFA President Sepp Blatter will be bringing a special surprise gift to his private audience with Pope Francis on 22 November: a copy of the world governing body’s newest publication “The FIFA Weekly” in Latin.

The exclusive Latin edition of the current issue includes a pictorial feature on San Lorenzo de Almagro, the favourite club of the Holy Father, who hails from Buenos Aires. It was a big ask at times for the translation team: as far as we know, words such as penalty, corner kick and centre-forward were not part of the ancient Roman vocabulary, and the Roman Empire fell fully 1,500 years before FIFA was founded. But we can reveal this in advance: the Latin for the game of football is ‘pediludum’.