When Pope Francis wants to kick around a few ideas about building peace between Christians and Muslims, he turns to one man: the British Muslim Footballer Kashif Siddiqui.
Siddiqui has been in talks with top Catholics in Rome this week in an attempt to find a way to use football as a bridge to peace between the faiths.
He is proposing a Muslim versus Catholic "Peace Match" in St Peter's Square.
Siddiqi, co-founder of Football for Peace, this week launched a Sport at the Service of Humanity conference at Vatican with a panel also including Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Christian Deuringer, head of brand management at Allianz SE and Mario Pescante of the International Olympic Committee.
Siddiqi said: "Sport has a unique and irreplaceable capacity to unite people. Me being here as a Muslim at the Vatican [is a way of] contributing and demonstrating that we must work together to unify humanity.
"Being a South Asian footballer puts me in a very unique position. Let's use sport to influence diplomatic, social and political relations."
The aim of the conference was to work towards a common goal of Peace.
"Sport is out tool. Peace is our goal," said Siddiqui.
Football for Peace's work has received high-profile backing from stars of the game and other top celebrities and world influencers.
Siddiqui organised a well-supported a "peace match" in Birmingham late last year and hopes to build momentum from that match to hold similar events across the UK, including in London where Football for Peace are in discussions with Newham Council.
Cardinal Ravasi was full of praise for the potential of football: "It is an expression of creativity, imagination and potential. This noble activity can degenerate as a result of well-known and devastating elements. But sport, from its origins to our times, is part of the paideia, the process of creativity and evolution".
