Friday began with a Eucharist in the Church of St Louis of the French, presided over by Monsignor Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.)
Pope Francis, through Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonca (Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education), addressed the participants with this welcome: "It is important for the Church to reflect on sport and give it proper value in its evangelising action". There have already been several Popes who have opted for pastoral care of sport and education, promoting sport as a privileged place of encounter between people and fraternity between peoples. He emphasised the great educational importance of adults in the field of sports, since with their human values, healthy and formative sports environments and environments must be achieved, preventing any lack of educative attitude and any form of abuse. (https://revistaecclesia.es/papa-francisco-deporte-iglesia/)
The apostle Paul more than once compared spiritual life to competitive activity, particularly running (see 1 Cor 9:24; 2 Tim 4:7-8) the reward for which is Christ himself. The discipline and temperance of athletes, as well as the a healthy competitive spirit has often been valued as a metaphor for the virtuous Christian life. Sport is taking on an increasingly important role in society, shaping the daily lives of many people. It is a way of using leisure time that awakens interests and opportunities for encounters, brings people together and creates community, energises life in an orderly way and promotes dreams, especially in the younger generations.
There were several interventions and/or presentations that related in one way or another the twofold reality of sport and faith, (and in their interventions they mentioned, on more than one occasion, Don Bosco and his preventive system), with some very interesting ideas:
- We must educate to a culture of effort and work. The three pillars of education must be: family, school and sports.
- Sport has to be a tool for inclusion and to break down barriers.
- Sport is a fertile ground where we can educate and evangelise.
- Sport is the place where every young person can give the best of themselves.
- Through sport we can work on forgiveness and also learn about sacrifice.
The various interventions also touched on the ideological relationship between the Church and sport, the anthropological vision of sport and the human body, and how sport has very clear theological and cultural bases.
Finally, it should be noted that as part of the event, a “solidarity relay race” was also held on the last day at the Circus Maximus, “to show civil society the social relevance of sport itself”.
