FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis is silhouetted against a window light at the end of a meeting with Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo at the Vatican October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File Photo
(Reuters) -Italy's top-flight soccer league Serie A has postponed all of Monday's fixtures following the death of Pope Francis, and the four games will now be played on Wednesday.
The country's Olympic committee has also asked for all sporting events to be suspended.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church and a lifelong soccer fan, died on Monday aged 88.
"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 league said in a statement.
The fixtures have all been rescheduled for 1630 GMT on Wednesday, with the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg between Inter Milan and AC Milan kicking off at 1900 GMT as originally scheduled.
Italy's national Olympic Committee (CONI) called for all sporting fixtures scheduled for Monday to be postponed.
"The President of CONI, Giovanni Malago, invites the National Sports Federations, the Associated Sports Disciplines and the Sports Promotion Bodies to suspend all sports activities scheduled for today," a statement said.
"And to observe a minute's silence in the competitive events scheduled in Italy for the rest of the week, to mourn the death of the Holy Father Francis and honour his memory."
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Chopra, Kirsten Donovan and Pritha Sarkar)
