Rugby (the religion of Wales) and its influence on the Catholic church: should Pope Benedict XVI be worried?
OBJECTIVE
To explore the perceived wisdom that papal mortality is related to the success of the Welsh rugby union team.


METHODS
Retrospective observational study of historical Vatican and sporting data.


METHODS
Papal deaths between 1883 and the present day.


RESULTS
There is no evidence of a link between papal deaths and any home nation grand slams (when one nation succeeds in beating all other competing teams in every match). There was, however, weak statistical evidence to support an association between Welsh performance and the number of papal deaths.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the dominant Welsh performances of 2008, the Vatican medical team should take special care of the pontiff this Christmas.
Payne
Gareth C
GC
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XW. garethpayne@doctors.org.uk
Payne
Rebecca E
RE
Farewell
Daniel M
DM
D002410:Catholicism; D002977:Clergy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005538:Football / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014852:Wales