Vatican organizes event on sports and spirituality in Rome

Within the framework of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education and the French Embassy to the Holy See are jointly organizing an international conference on sport and spirituality with the title “putting life on the line.”

The initiative, which will take place between May 16 and 18 of this year, was presented this Monday in the Vatican Press Room by the prefect of the aforementioned dicastery, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça and by Florence Mangin, Ambassador of France before the Holy See.

Likewise, Emanuele Isidori, Professor of Sports Philosophy at the University of Rome, participated in the press conference; and Arturo Mariani, Paralympic athlete.

This agreement aims to “see sport beyond sport” and understand its cultural roots, identify its risks, appreciate its importance in building a more fraternal society, evaluate its pedagogical potential and, above all, delve into its spiritual relevance.

The Vatican Dicastery recalled that the Church’s relationship with sport is not recent: From the letters of Saint Paul to the writings of the Fathers of the Church, from the decrees of medieval councils to modern papal pronouncements, the The Church has always taken this cultural phenomenon into account.

Specifically, for the development of the agreement, two specific questions will be raised: What does the Church have to say to sport and what does sport have to say to the Church?

In this sense, the conference aims to offer a multifaceted analysis of the sport. The first day, May 16, the relationship between “Church and Sports” will be addressed, through the sharing of the testimony of high-level athletes and some concrete pastoral experiences that put sport at the service of the Gospel and vice versa.

The second day, on May 17, will focus on the relationship between “Man and Sport”, through the reflection of a group of highly qualified speakers, from Italian and French universities, who will discuss sport from the point of view of view of its pedagogical, philosophical, sociological and theological relevance.

Finally, on May 18, a solidarity sports event will be held to show civil society the social relevance of sport itself.

At this morning’s press conference, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça expressed that, at first glance, “observing a conference on sports organized by a Dicastery of the Holy See seems a little strange.”

In this sense, he specified that the organization of this conference aims to “observe sport today” and also understand “why it is so popular” and identify its risks.

In this way, he assured that “the figure of Jesus, in his message and in his works, has a lot to offer sport.”

“Likewise, the Church has a lot to learn from the sporting phenomenon. This is essentially what we want to achieve with this international conference, bringing not only voices from within the Church, but also voices from outside the Church to help us with their reflections,” he noted.