English cricket chiefs issue apology after deleted message to Pope Francis on social media

03/07/2025 01:20 PM

The England and Wales Cricket Board have apologised for a social media post joking that Pope Francis ‘loves The Ashes’.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalised since last month after being diagnosed with double pneumonia.

A message from the Pope’s X account on Ash Wednesday read: “The #Ashes remind us of who we are, which does us good.

"It puts us in our place, smooths out the rough edges of our narcissism, brings us back to reality, and makes us more humble and open to one another. None of us is God; we are all on a journey. #Lent."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent in which Christians use the 40-day period to prepare for the holy event of Easter.

However, the X account for English Cricket tried their hand at a cheeky reply, as they posted: “Even @Pontifex loves The Ashes“.

The post has since been deleted from the platform and a statement where they issued an apology was put up.

An ECB spokesperson said: “This was an ill-judged post and was swiftly deleted. We apologise for any offence.”

English Cricket's social media team were jokingly comparing Ash Wednesday to The Ashes – a historic Test cricket series played between England and Australia.

The next instalment starts in November with England hoping to win back the urn on Australian soil for the first time since the 1986/87 tour.

Unfortunately for England, defeating Australia on their home turf has historically been an arduous task.

Following England’s success in beating Australia in the 1986/87 series by a 2-1 margin, they have won just once on enemy territory.

That came in the summer of 2010/11, when England retained the urn thanks to a 3-1 series triumph.

However, the next series on Australian soil saw a 5-0 whitewash for the hosts as they reclaimed the iconic prize.

England wrestled back control in 2015, but lost it in the following series, with Australia retaining control of the urn since 2018.

Despite England’s grim record as the touring team over the last two decades, former skipper Michael Atherton holds out hope Brendon McCullum’s side can win back the Ashes.

Atherton was a keen observer of Australia’s Test series against India last summer, which the hosts won 3-1 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Despite Australia’s triumph, Atherton told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast England will have gained ‘encouragement’ from how their historic rivals played.

“The lack of form for India’s top players, Rohit [Sharma], Virat [Kohli] and others, allied with an over-reliance on [Jasprit] Bumrah, in the end was the difference,” Atherton said.

“From an England perspective, I felt that they would have taken some encouragement… from both sides, actually.

“Both sides’ batting looks vulnerable. Australia struggled as well; Usman Khawaja at the top, Smith got two hundreds but didn’t quite seem like the player he was, and Labuschagne really struggled.

“Mitch Marsh was dropped and [Alex] Carey looked vulnerable to the ball coming back to him.

“Unlike perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, when we were playing – and you’d look down the Aussie line-up and think, ‘How are we going to get 20 wickets here?’ – I can see an avenue for England, if their bowlers are fit, where there might be some possibilities.

“I think they’d have been reasonably encouraged by what they saw, even though both sides played good, hard competitive cricket and it was a fantastic series.”

Meanwhile, Pope Francis spoke for the first time since being hospitalised on Thursday, in an audio message.

He gave thanks for the outpouring of love and support from around the world.

The message was recorded at Rome’s Gemelli hospital and played during a prayer service for the Pope in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

He said: "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers in the Square for my health. May God bless.”