Rome: Mass for cricketer Phillip Hughes

Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, John McCarthy, has arranged for Mass to be offered in the chapel of the Venerable English College, Rome, at 6pm on Tuesday, 2 December for Phillip Hughes and his family.

The Vatican Cricket XI (Saint Peter’s Cricket Club) will attend along with representatives from the Pontifical Council for Culture and supporters of the Vatican team. The Mass will be celebrated by Fr Anthony Currer, an English priest working at the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, who is captain of the Vatican XI, together with Australian Columban Fr Robert McCulloch, committee member, and Fr Eamonn O’Higgins, team manager.

Phillip was knocked unconscious by a bouncer, during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, on 25 November. He died on 27 November just three days before his 26th birthday.