On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Corriere dello Sport-Stadio, Pope Francis sent a message to the editorial staff of this Italian daily. Encouraging journalists to “spread a healthy sporting culture”, the Holy Father recalls the positive values of sport which allow “to help humanity grow”.
Jean-Benoît Harel – Vatican City
On October 20, 1924, in Bologna in northern Italy, the Corriere dello Sport is created with the aim of bringing sporting events to enthusiasts. This Sunday, October 20, the newspaper headed by former football player Ivan Zazzaroni celebrates its centenary, a “beautiful trophy”, according to the Pope.
In a message, Francis sends his best wishes to the editorial staff of this Italian daily and remembers his youth in Argentina, when “we played football with a ball made of rags“. An essential way for him to learn fraternity: “we play together, and we know that we are only opponents on the field, never enemies».
For the Holy Father, sport allows us to know “the joy of victory“, but also “defeat, by trying to get back up and carefully keeping the mistakes we made to try to overcome them next time, or simply by accepting our diversity and our limits».
San Lorenzo Team Support
The Argentine pontiff is often presented as a supporter of the San Lorenzo team. Having fun, François reveals that he appreciates the beginning of the history of this football team: “when boys playing in the streets at the beginning of the 20th century were looking for a safe space to play football, a priest of Italian origin, a Salesian, Don Lorenzo Massa, opened the doors of the oratory, and so it was that a beautiful adventure began“. He takes this opportunity to greet and thank all the parishes and all the patronages who have welcomed young people and allowed them to grow through sport.
“We need spaces to play sports, especially in the poorest and most isolated contexts, but above all we need adults who authentically welcome children and young people, who know how to listen to their dreams, who desire with them a better future.”
Promote healthy sporting competition
François recalled one of the newspaper’s greatest achievements: the sale of more than 2 million copies after Italy’s victory in the World Cup final against France in 2006. A moment, like so many others, “that make us feel like one people, like when we stand up to sing the anthem, at home, at the stadium or in the gym».
The Pope then regretted episodes of intolerance in the practice of certain sporting competitions. Faced with a world that sometimes advocates “to destroy the adversary, to make your own rules, to reject those who want to moderate the confrontation», the Holy Father proposes to develop a “healthy sports culture“, in order to “help humanity grow in its most beautiful and authentic values».
“We must reject any logic of exclusion and violence, and for this we know that words have their value, to educate in the good and the beautiful, rather than to destroy.”
Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
Citing the Olympic but especially Paralympic competitions which were held in Paris during the summer of 2024, François said:rejoiced in the many successes of incredible boys and girls» who noted the “challenges posed by their disability». «Their races are a hymn to life!“, he concluded, urging journalists to always think and experience sport in this way.
