Pope to Italian footballers: display true
sportsmanship
(Vatican Radio) Pope
Francis on Friday urged Italian football (soccer) players to not just be champions
in their sport but above all champions in their lives, by displaying key moral
values such as brotherhood, mutual respect, understanding and forgiveness. His
remarks came during an audience at the Vatican with top representatives of
Italy’s Seria A Football League as well as players from the Juventus and AC
Milan teams. The two Seria A teams play each other at the weekend in the final
of the Italian cup (Coppa Italia) in Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
A keen football fan himself,
Pope Francis reminded the players, that as role models for many fans,
especially the young, their behaviour should always reflect “the authentic
values of sport.” He said the success of a team depends on a fusion of human
and moral virtues such as “harmony, loyalty, friendship, dialogue and
solidarity.” By being a witness of those moral virtues, he continued, you can
emphasize even more the real purpose of the world of sport that is “sometimes
marred by negative episodes.”
The Pope reminded the players
that they are not just footballers but first and foremost a human being, each
with their own conscience, and urged them to always show “brotherhood, mutual
respect, understanding and forgiveness.” “Be champions in sport but above all
champions in your life,” he stressed.
Pope Francis concluded by
encouraging the players to always highlight whatever is “truly good and
beautiful” and to not be afraid to share and display with their fans “the moral
and religious principles” on which they wish to base their life.
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