FIFA corruption scandal: Vatican official says 'sports troubled by great evils'

Following the corruption scandal that has rocked football's international governing body Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), a Vatican official has called for improvements in the field of sports, saying it is "troubled by great evils."

Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture and director of the council's Culture and Sport Division, said the allegations of bribery among FIFA officials are no longer new.

"Is anyone surprised by this news? Every year around this time a new corruption scandal comes out in the world of sports, in soccer or the other sports," De Toca said.

The Vatican official stressed the need for different sectors of society to unite in helping promote what he called as "clean soccer."

"I think it's evident that the world of sports by itself is not capable of overcoming its problems but instead it needs to form alliances with different sectors of society," he said.

He also emphasized that sports should always be used towards the betterment of humanity and society.

Last week, several top officials of the FIFA were arrested at a posh hotel in Switzerland after charges were filed against them in the United States on allegations that they accepted millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.

Those arrested were particularly accused of accepting over $100 million from media and sports marketing companies who were granted media broadcast and advertising rights during soccer tournaments in Latin America.

The massive controversy has pressured FIFA president Joseph Blatter, who was just recently re-elected to his post, to resign.

Pope Francis, himself a football fan, earlier said that sports "encourages the building of a more fraternal and supportive world, helping to overcome situations of injustice and social and human distress."