The Vatican has pledged to clean up Italian football after buying its own club.

The Italian Bishop's Conference now has a controlling stake in AC Ancona, currently top of Italy's third division, after money was provided by a group of Catholic businessmen.

Edoardo Menichelli, the Archbishop of Ancona, said the move would help bring more morality into football.

"We want to bring some ethics back into the game, which has been undergoing a grave crisis in terms of sportsmanship,'' he said.

The Vatican aims to introduce an ethical code which will punish Ancona's players for any foul play.

Under the new owners, tickets for Ancona's home matches will drop in price, and all profits will go to projects in the Third World.

Fans will be forbidden from taunting and insulting the opposition, and from unfurling offensive banners and flags.

Ancona played in Italy's top division only four years ago, but were relegated after winning just 13 points.

The club also reached the final of the Italian Cup in 2004, but lost to Sampdoria.

However, it was deeply involved in the Calciopoli bribes scandal of two seasons ago.

Its former president, Ermanno Pieroni, was sentenced to 53 days in jail.

The team will have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI after the final deal is signed on October 10.

Andrea Staffolani, a 24-year-old striker, said: "We have not been told all the details about the new ethical code, but we like what we have read so far.

"For example, the idea that if we get sent off we have to do voluntary work.

"We've been talking about it in the dressing room, and we are ready to do it.

"The team has played well and fairly on the pitch until now anyway, and we hope to keep it that way.

"We cannot wait to meet the Pope. All of us are delighted, believers and non-believers.''

Eighty per cent of the club will be controlled by the bishops, leaving 20pc to the former president Sergio Schiavoni.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, is a fanatical football fan and has openly spoken about his ambition to create a football team of priests. (©The Daily Telegraph)