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The South American soccer federation CONMEBOL pledged to donate $10,000 to a Vatican charity for every goal scored during the America Cup. The charity has since suspended this agreement.
The South American soccer federation CONMEBOL pledged to donate $10,000 to a Vatican charity for every goal scored during the America Cup. The charity has since suspended this agreement. Photo/Wikimedia Commons via BrokenSphere [http://bit.ly/1MC99VP]

Vatican suspends donation agreement until soccer investigation ends

By  Laura Ieraci, Catholic News Service
  • June 14, 2015

VATICAN CITY - A charity for youth established by Pope Francis has suspended a donations agreement with a South American soccer federation, following the corruption scandal that erupted last month with the worldwide soccer federation, FIFA.

The South American federation CONMEBOL had pledged to donate $10,000 to the Vatican charity Scholas Occurrentes for every goal scored during the America Cup, which began in Chile June 11. The federation had signed the agreement in the presence of Pope Francis at the Vatican April 21.

Scholas Occurrentes was founded to promote social integration of youth through sport and operates under the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which is headed by Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo.

The charity issued a Spanish-language press release June 11, signed by Sanchez, saying it "will refrain from receiving any funds until the ongoing judicial investigation is clarified."

Venezuelan Rafael Esquivel, who was among the seven FIFA officials arrested May 27 to face corruption charges in the United States, sat on the CONMEBOL executive and was among those signing the Vatican agreement.

Two former presidents of CONMEBOL, Nicolas Leoz and Eugenio Figueredo, are also among those being investigated by the FBI in the corruption scandal.

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