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Fantasy Football for Pope launches as fans pick top 11 but the Vatican isn't happy

With the Cardinals heading to Vatican City to start the process of selecting the next Pope, punters are making their own 'Fantasy Football' style team of candidates

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Punters can create a 'Fantasy Football team' of the next potential Pope candidates (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Thousands are flocking to a Fantasy Football-style site to pick their ideal team to take on the role as the next Pope despite betting being looked down upon in the Vatican.

The game, named Fantapapa, is inspired by Fantasy Football and allows users to pick their perfect 11 as the next candidates to become the next Pope. While countries around the world are starting to take bets on the next Pope, nowhere in Italy is legally offering the opportunity.

However, those looking for a flutter can fulfil their need on Fantapapa. Players can create a team of 11 papal candidates and win points if a team member is mentioned prominently in media within Italy.

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The cardinals are gathering for the selection process(Image: Getty Images)

To get extra points, players must have one of their picks elected, with bonuses for correct guesses on other bets such as the name taken by the new pontiff.

As of now (Cardinal Matteo) Zuppi is the preferred candidate and, notably, most of the followers on our Instagram profile are women, Pietro Pace, one of the creators, told Reuters.

Pace works as an artificial intelligence architect at Microsoft and Mauro Vanetti, a video game developer, came up with the idea and starting programming back in February, when Francis went into hospital.

The game is free to play and contains no advertisements. It went online shortly after he died on April 21, and the number of users approached 60,000 this week.

There are no prizes, its just for fun and for the eternal glory, Pace said.

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the favourite, was appointed by the Late Pope Francis. Described by the College of Cardinals Report as a rapidly rising star in the Italian episcopate, he sits on the left wing of the field.

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Betting on the next Pope is looked down upon in Italy (Image: Getty Images)

From Rome the 69-year-old has been the The Archbishop of Bologna since December 12, 2015.

According to William Hill, he currently sits at 11/2. The favourite, however, is Pietro Parolin, who is priced at 9/4.

At 70 years old, he has served as the Vatican's Secretary of State since 2013. He has also held positions as Cardinal-Bishop of Santi Simone e Giuda Taddeo a Torre Angela and Member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers.

In Italy there is no law expressly prohibiting betting on the election of the pope, explained Nicola Tani, head of the specialist media outlet Agipronews.

However, the Customs Agency, which authorises the subject of bets in advance, has informally asked gaming licensees to avoid offering odds on the election of the pope, as is the case for Italian political elections, Tani added.

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