Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, who stood in the boat outside Cologne Cathedral on Thursday, called for compassion for migrants and refugees.

Hundreds of people witnessed the liturgy.

The boat had been formerly used to transport refugees across the Mediterranean.

Authorities in Malta reportedly recovered the seven-metre-long boat used by the cardinal.

It was then transported to Cologne by Maltese church officials.

Cardinal Woelki, who has advocated or migrants and refugees for years, said refugees were people with hopes and dreams just like anyone else.

"In this boat, people young and old, women and children, were smuggled over the Mediterranean," Cardinal Woelki said.

"To see those in need and help them is the task the Lord has given to us as Christians."

On the same day Cardinal Woelki spoke, at least 20 people drowned when their boat sank north of Libya.

The day before, a trawler with hundreds of people on board capsized as an Italian navy boat arrived, killing at least five people.

Cardinal Woekl lamented such deaths, saying it is now God alone who "knows their hopes, their pain, their dreams, their sadness, their families and their life stories".

"Whoever lets people drown, lets God drown - every day, thousands of times," he said.

"Whoever tortures people to death in camps, tortures God to death - thousands and thousands of times."

Cologne has been the site of tensions surrounding migration after women were assaulted en masse, allegedly by refugees, on December 31 last year.

Some 700 refugees are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean in recent days.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• The Independent
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald

The boss of soccer's governing body told Swiss paper Sonntags Zeitung that FIFA's influence is because of "the positive emotions it releases".

He said his organisation reaches 1.6 billion people.

"FIFA is more influential than any country in the world or any religion through the positive emotions football triggers," Mr Blatter said.

"We move masses. We want to use this to create more peace, justice and health in the world," he said.

According to the Washington Post, Mr Blatter, 79, added: "I believe in God and I believe in myself. That's why I can fulfil my duties independently of age."

But Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, himself an ardent soccer fan, issued a yellow card to Mr Blatter, according to The Tablet.

Speaking to Cologne church radio, Cardinal Woelki said that more than two billion Christians worldwide would soon be celebrating Easter and would, if necessary, lay down their lives for their faith.

"With all enthusiasm for football, I think Mr Blatter has vastly overestimated himself and his association.

"He's scored pretty much of an own goal and so belongs on the bench so that he can reorient himself and have another think," Cardinal Woelki said.

The cardinal acknowledged FIFA's social engagement, but also pointed to the link between big money and corruption in sport.

He cited the controversial FIFA choice of Qatar as the venue for the 2022 World Cup.

Cardinal Woelki highlighted worker exploitation and dangerous work practices leading to deaths on "world championship building sites" in Qatar.

He suggested this is where Mr Blatter and FIFA "should be putting the values for which they allegedly want to stand into practice".

The post of FIFA president is up for election in May.

Sources

• Washington Post
• The Tablet
• Daily Mail
• Image: The Guardian