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Sport according to Pope Francis is “Pope Bergoglio’s secular encyclical”?
A mediocre footballer (“I was a ‘pata dura’” he says about himself), an amateur basketball player following his father’s example, passionate about rugby and its values, the Holy Father has always been close to athletes and sporting challenges.
We are publishing an excerpt from this papal “pensum” which is striking for its relevance, depth, and modernity.
We have also asked institutional and sports personalities to comment on these statements. We will publish these responses in the coming days.
In your opinion, what aspects unite the human adventure with that of the spirit?
Both sport and spirit have words in common: I think of themes such as passion, method, application, imagination, constancy.
Also to even higher dimensions: the idea of fascination, pleasure, satisfaction. All these words help to understand a principle that combines spiritual and physical exercise: the idea that man, by exercising, can improve, become more human. This exercise is directed towards a “more,” capable of giving meaning to physical fatigue.
Does the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” also apply to our daily lives?
“The motto is beautiful: ‘Faster! Higher! Stronger!’. It’s attributed to Baron Pierre De Coubertin, but it was conceived by a Dominican preacher, Henri Didon. Along with the five rings and the Olympic flame, it is one of the symbols of the Games. It’s not an invitation to the supremacy of one team over another, much less a kind of incitement to nationalism; it’s an exhortation for athletes to tend to work on themselves, honestly surpassing their limits to build something great, without being held back by them. A philosophy of life: the invitation not to accept that anyone dictates life for us.”
Every four years, there are the Olympic Games, with their Olympic Charter. The Olympic Games can serve as a beacon for sailors: the person at the center, the human striving for fulfillment, the defense of the dignity of every person. And the best: “Contributing to building a better world, without wars or tensions, educating young people through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind, in a spirit of friendship and loyalty.” Everything is already written: let’s live it!”.
Sport is also a celebration and a festivity. A sort of liturgy, rituality, belonging. It’s not for nothing that people talk about “sports faith”.
“Sport encompasses all that we have said: fatigue, motivation, societal development, assimilation of rules. And then it’s fun: I think of choreography in football stadiums, writings on the road as cyclists pass by, banners of encouragement when a competition takes place. Trumpets, rockets, drums: it’s as if everything disappears; the world is suspended at that moment. Sport, well-experienced, is a celebration: we gather together, we rejoice, we cry, we feel we ‘belong’ to a team. ‘Belonging’ means admitting that living alone is not so pleasant, celebrating alone is not so joyful. It is curious that someone connects the memory of something to sport: ‘which team won the title, which champion won the competition. The year of the Olympic Games, the World Cup. In some way, sport is an experience of the people and their passions, it marks personal and collective memory. Perhaps it is precisely these elements that allow us to speak of ‘sports faith’.
Defeat and victory are part of the sporting dynamic, as well as of life.
“Winning and losing are two verbs that seem opposed: everyone loves to win and no one likes to lose. Victory contains a thrill that is even difficult to describe, but even defeat has something wonderful. For those used to winning, the temptation to feel invincible is strong: victory, sometimes, can make you arrogant and lead you to think you’ve arrived. On the other hand, defeat encourages meditation: we ask ourselves the reason for the defeat, we examine our conscience, we analyze it. That’s why, from some defeats, beautiful victories are born: because, once the error is identified, the thirst for redemption is born. I would say that those who win do not know what it means to lose. It’s not just wordplay: ask the poor.”
Can a healthy competitive spirit also help the spirit to mature?
“Two passages written by Saint Paul in his letters come to mind. The first: ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get it’ (1 Cor 9:24). It is a wonderful invitation to get involved, not to watch the world from the window. The second passage I would like to recall is where Paul, addressing his friend Philemon, seems to confide his secret: ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me’ (Phil 3:12). No athlete runs just for the sake of running: there is always a beauty that, like a magnet, attracts those who take on a challenge. It always starts because there is something that fascinates us.”
