The 2 metre-tall Brazilian basketball star Oscar,
was one of the athletes that knelt down to receive Francis’ blessing at
the City Palace of Rio this afternoon. Numerous sportspeople who will be competing at the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games queued up to greet the Pope.
After presenting the Pope with the keys to the City, Rio’s mayor told him the City Palace even had a hen house, to which Francis responded: “Please send some eggs to the nearby cloistered convent.”
In a statement to Vatican Insider, Fr. Ugo Sartorio, a theologian and editor-in-chief of Italian newspaper Messaggero di Sant’Antonio, said: “Sport is a universal language which interprets human passions, the ability to win and to accept defeat.”
“Francis is a human hearts athlete. The language of sport brings about human dialogue and Francis is a passionate man who is able to get in tune with people,” he added.
Gian Franco Svidercoschi, former editor-in-chief of L’Osservatore Romano agrees. “Sport is part of daily life and Francis sees it as a tool for reaching out to everyone and communicating even with non-believers. Sport is the embodiment of faith; it is a human vocation before a Christian one and is not limited to the Church. Francis’ gestures have earned him credibility because like Wojtyla, he remained a man even when he became Pope,” he said.
In fact he is even more popular that John Paul II, judging by his long meeting with Inter Milan captain Zanetti and the San Lorenzo football jersey he received as a gift in St. Peter’s Square (San Lorenzo being his favourite football team).
Joseph Ratzinger was a football fan as well. Some years ago he sent an excerpt from his pre-pontificate memoirs to the German press. In them he talks about his fondness for football being fostered by teams like Lazio, Inter, real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. The managers and members of these teams had been very close to Ratzinger’s predecessor, John Paul II.
Ratzinger remembers our teams with particular fondness, though these are one step below Bayern Munich, as Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone once said in a statement to Vatican Radio: “The Pope met former Bayern coach Giovanni Trapattoni and when he commuted between Munich and Rome, they often spoke on the telephone. He followed the team’s games like a true fan.”
Ratzinger described football like this: “Whenever I read the papers or listened to the radio, I noticed that football was a really popular subject. This sport has become a global event that unites people, overcoming national boundaries. So many people are united through hope, fear, uninhibited passion and joy. I reflected a great deal on how this was possible. I am tempted to say that this game is a way of escaping the hardships of everyday life. But it is wonderful to see the effect it has on children. Football has a different meaning for them, it is a form of life training. Football helps humans achieve self discipline; it helps them relate to others. It’s a pity the oppressive shadow of money and economic interests have outshone these values. It’s a pity because football could teach us to look at life in a different way.”