Pope Leo XIV praises the value of sport in promoting growth of body and spirit, as he meets with the Italian Swimming Federation.<\/p>\n
By Devin Watkins<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV met on Thursday with members of the Italian Swimming Federation and participants in the International Swimming Championships.<\/p>\n
The 62nd Sette Colli Trophy takes place at the historic Foro Italico Swimming Stadium in Rome on June 26-28, and serves as a final qualifying event ahead of the upcoming European Championships and Mediterranean Games.<\/p>\n
In his address, the Pope said sport can serve as medicine for the body and the spirit, if it is approached correctly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt integrates the various dimensions of the person and directs them toward very important values, such as commitment, solidarity, and honesty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In competitive sporting activities, added the Pope, an athlete reveals the quality of their motiviations as they exercise willpower and drive to perform.<\/p>\n
Besides bodily health, sport also provides an opportunity for spiritual nourishment, especially swimming, noted Pope Leo.<\/p>\n
\u201cSwimming is practiced while immersed in an element, water, which surrounds the person,\u201d he said. \u201cThis symbolically recalls an aspect that has shaped us from our mother\u2019s womb: to live means learning to move in harmony with others and with the environment around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Christians, he noted, water symbolizes Baptism and our new life in Christ.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo recalled that participants in the Sette Colli Trophy competition come from around the world, inspired by the same passion and values that transcend language or culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis aspect, which is typical of international sporting events, offers a sign of hope, a sign of the world we desire,\u201d he said. \u201cIt contributes to peaceful encounter among peoples and to fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV encouraged professional swimmers to continue practicing and spreading the values of sport, entrusting them to the intercession of\u00a0St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe age of competition passes, but those values remain!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV praises the value of sport in promoting growth of body and spirit, as he meets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[223587,63,85,46,2971,14655,2224,105],"class_list":["post-510438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-audiences","tag-europe","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-italy","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}