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England midfielder Rhyce Ramsden admits amputee football has opened doors he did not realise were accessible to him. The Everton player has just completed arguably the most successful couple of weeks of his life after scoring twice in the FA Disability Cup final victory over Portsmouth, just days after helping the national team win their first title since 1990. He has already come a long way since getting on his first flight with the England team just six months into his journey in amputee football. “I was 16 and had been playing for six months as an amputee when I got called up to go play in the 2017 Euros in Turkey,” Ramsden told the PA news agency. “Before playing football I’d only ever been on a plane once and been to one other country. “Now I travel the world – I’ve been to Europe, I’ve been to America, Mexico, it’s just a bit surreal what has happened. Playing in front of 42,000 in Besiktas’ stadium was a good experience.” Ramsden sports a floppy centre-parting and headband like Manchester City winger Jack Grealish and, while comparisons were made after his performance at the weekend, there were no post-match celebrations to match the treble winner’s party stop in Ibiza. “I got asked on Saturday when we won the FA Cup if I was going on a three-day bender, but I was back in work in Monday – that was the biggest reality shock,” he added. “Someone put out a post saying, ‘It’s the one-legged Jack Grealish’, but I wanted to reply saying, ‘No, he’s the two-legged Rhyce Ramsden’.” Someone put out a post saying, 'It's the one-legged Jack Grealish', but I wanted to reply saying, 'No, he's the two-legged Rhyce Ramsden' Rhyce Ramsden Ramsden was born with a tumour above his right knee which resulted in amputation at five months old. That did not prevent him playing sport alongside his able-bodied friends, but he admits once he joined the amputee football “family” things changed. “I used to play football with my prosthetic in net for school and one day a coach came down and showed me a couple of clips of amputee football,” he said. “I went to a training camp wanting to still be a goalkeeper, but in amputee football you have to be an arm amputee to be a goalkeeper so I had to get used to being outfield and once I started playing outfield I stopped wanting to be a goalkeeper straightaway. “Even if you don’t play sport there is always a place for you. “There are kids and adults who have lost their legs recently, who never mind playing don’t think they will walk again. “Then they come down and try it and next thing you know they’ve got the bug. “Even if you think the worst is going to happen, that’s not the case, always think positive, get yourself involved.” Ramsden is in good company at Everton as they have six England representatives in the team, who play seven-a-side games which last 50 minutes. Among his team-mates is Steve Johnson, Everton’s disability manager who was world amputee footballer of the year in 1999, has played in three World Cups and scored an extra-time winner against Brazil in the 1990 World Cup final, England’s last tournament success before their recent Nations League triumph in Poland. “I first started in 1987 and then there wasn’t social media, so it was just pitches in limb centres and finding players was a real challenge, but it has grown, social media has helped quite a lot,” said Johnson, who has been involved at Everton since 2003. “Everton has a long history working with disabled people, but we have to generate a lot of those funds ourselves. “The FA put a lot of resources into promoting the women’s game and that needs to happen for disability football, not just amputees, to get them challenging for trophies at major competitions.” Everton in the Community’s disability programme engages more than 200 disabled adults per week and over 400 disabled children and young people each year, offering competitive opportunities for 11 pan-disability and specific impairment teams for children and adults that are available to males and females. “It is open for anyone who wants to take part, it’s not set in stone. We recruit wherever we can,” said Everton Amputees manager and EitC disability co-ordinator Mark Dolan. “The pathway is there to go and play for England. We have various different players along the path and Rhyce is an example of one of the up-and-coming players at England.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Josh Tongue gets late breakthrough as Australia dominate at Lord’s Sir Nick Faldo: LIV Golf won’t survive proposed deal with governing bodies Alessia Russo fully focused on England after ‘tough’ summer of transfer talk

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Pope Francis has opened the door for the first time to blessing same-sex unions in a cautious step away from the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards gay couples. Maintaining that the Church would crucially not recognise gay marriage, the Pope made his opinion known in answer to doctrinal questions from five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm teaching on homosexuality. His statement comes ahead of major Vatican meeting where LGBT+ Catholics are on the agenda, and at a time when several progressive priests in a number of countries have begun blessing same-sex couples in defiance of conservative archbishops. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality “intrinsically disordered” and the Pope has long opposed gay marriage, claiming marriage can only happen between a man and woman. However, his remarks could signal a change in trajectory with the potential for blessings of unions distinct from marriage. In a letter, published yesterday, he said: “We cannot be judges who only deny, push back, exclude.” Pope Francis was sent the set of formal questions known as “dubia“ or doubts ahead of the Vatican synod, which will begin on Wednesday to decide the future direction of the Church and the inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics. The Vatican subsequently published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on 11 July, where he suggested that such blessings could be considered if they didn’t confuse the blessing with marriage. Francis in his seven-point response said the Church was very clear that marriages could be only between a man and a woman and that the Church should avoid any other ritual that contradicted his teaching. He said "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes", adding that "we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude". "For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage," he wrote. "Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better." He noted that there are situations that are objectively "not morally acceptable". The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful but homosexual acts are. The pope's response marks a reversal from the Vatican's current official position. In 2021 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the Church couldn't bless gay unions because "God cannot bless sin". New Ways Ministry, which advocates LGBT+ Catholics, said the letter "significantly advances" efforts to make the community welcomed in the Church and is "one big straw towards breaking the camel's back". Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the ministry, in a statement, said the pope's words implied "that the church does indeed recognise that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God". With agency inputs Read More Catholic priests have held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting Women's voices and votes loom large as pope opens Vatican meeting on church's future Things to know about the Vatican's big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church Clergy abuse survivors propose new 'zero tolerance' law following outcry over Vatican appointment 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting