The Pope writes about sports

Getting involved: a collection of "thoughts on sport", considerations and indications of Pope Francis, taken from his most significant speeches, addressed in recent years to athletes of various disciplines. The work, published by the Vatican Publishing House, uses the forewords by Alex Zanardi, Francesco Totti, and former Kenyan marathoner Tegli Loroupe, head of the refugee team of the International Olympic Committee.

The words of Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and president of Athletica Vaticana, stem from the papal concept of the "Church that is going out". «It must be a sport of inclusion, which knows how to work as a team between young people and adults, foreigners and locals, able-bodied and Paralympic. Sport is important not only in the oratories, but also in seminars, in homes for the elderly, in places of welcome for refugees and immigrants ”. We need to imagine the book as a set of "vitamins", which we want to make available to managers, coaches, who should also be educators and mentors of young people, and athletes themselves. In particular, amateur sport is the Pope's main objective, and for this very reason, there was a small representation of the CSI, within the beautiful setting of the Terme di Caracalla stadium.

Giovanni Malagò, president of Coni, and Luca Pancalli, president of the Italian Paralympic Committee participated in the presentation of the book. The latter emphasized the importance of the preface by Alex Zanardi, as a man-symbol of the values ​​of sport, according to Pope Francis. A preface, in which it seems that Alex wanted to leave traces of his heart in the ink, with his boundless passion and dedication. Pancalli concluded: «In my meetings with the Pope, I was struck not only by his words, but by the light he had in his eyes. The Pope is our “coach”, the “coach” of the whole Italian sports world, since the real “coach” is also a guide».

Carlo Nesti
NP october 2020