Inter Milan vs Roma One Of Three Serie A Fixtures Moved For Pope Francis' Funeral

Inter Milan's match against Roma has been postponed due to a clash with Pope Francis' funeral which the Vatican announced will take place on Saturday, Serie A said on Tuesday. Serie A said all three matches scheduled for Saturday would be rescheduled, with Inter's -- moved to Sunday at 1300 GMT -- being the highest profile as they contest the league title with Napoli. The decision comes after the Italian government announced on Tuesday five days of national mourning for Francis, the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, who died at his home in the Vatican on Monday aged 88 after suffering a stroke. 

He had been recovering from double pneumonia that saw him hospitalised for five weeks.

Italy's Olympic Committee CONI, the country's highest sporting body, "invited" all other federations to suspend any events scheduled for Saturday.

CONI also asked a minute's silence be held at all sporting events held during the days of national mourning.

The other two matches Serie A postponed were Como v Genoa, moved to Sunday at 1030 GMT, and Lazio's home match with Parma, which will be played on Monday to stop fans from flocking to Rome's Stadio Olimpico on the same day as the funeral.

The Olimpico is around three kilometres from Vatican City and the Prati and Della Vittoria districts which separate the two are often paralysed by a combination of fan and tourist traffic on matchdays.

The rescheduling causes the biggest problems for Inter who are bidding for the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble.

Inter are level on 71 points with Napoli, who host Torino on Sunday, at the top of Serie A and face local rivals AC Milan in the second leg of the cup semis, with Barcelona awaiting a week later.

The Italian champions have