Pope Leo XIV’s full letter can be present in English by clicking here.
Pope Leo XIV’s full letter can be present in Spanish by clicking here.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Just because the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina had been about to start, Pope Leo XIV known as on the Catholic Church to acknowledge sport as a chance to supply much-needed human and non secular steerage.
With so many risks and distortions threatening the integrity of athletics and the dignity of gamers, the Church can help strengthen the wanted concord between folks’s bodily and non secular growth, he wrote, serving to sport turn into a spot “for athletes to learn to take care of themselves without falling prey to vanity, to push themselves to their limits without harming themselves and to compete without losing sight of fraternity.”
Pope Leo, who considers himself “a decent amateur tennis player,” issued a letter on “the value of sport,” Feb. 6, titled “Life in Abundance,” from Jesus’ declaration, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly,” from the Gospel based on St. John (10:10).
The want for holistic, integral human growth is vital, he wrote, as a result of “the danger of narcissism … permeates the entire sporting culture today. Athletes can become obsessed with their physical image and with their own success, measured by visibility and approval.”
And typically sports can tackle a “quasi-religious dimension” with athletes perceived as “saviors,” he wrote. “When sport claims to replace religion, it loses its character as a game that benefits our lives, becoming instead aggrandized, all-encompassing and absolute.”
The pope dated and launched the eight-page letter the identical day the XXV Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo started Feb. 6. Set to run till Feb. 22, the worldwide sporting occasion shall be adopted by the XIV Paralympic Games March 6-15.
Offering his “greeting and good wishes to those who are directly involved” within the Games, the pope additionally inspired all of the world’s nations to “rediscover and respect” the Olympic Truce as a logo and promise of hope and reconciliation in “a world thirsting for peace.”
“We need tools that can put an end to the abuse of power, displays of force and indifference to the rule of law,” he wrote, decrying the “radicalization of conflict and a refusal to cooperate” in addition to a “culture of death.”
The world is witnessing “lives broken, dreams shattered, survivors’ trauma, cities destroyed — as if human coexistence were superficially reduced to a video game scenario,” he wrote, repeating St. John Paul II’s warning that aggression, violence and battle are “always a defeat for humanity.”
The Olympic Truce is constructed on the assumption that collaborating in public sport with a spirit of “virtue and excellence” promotes higher fraternity, solidarity and the widespread good, he wrote.
“International competitions offer a privileged opportunity to experience our shared humanity in all its rich diversity,” he wrote. “Indeed, there is something deeply moving about the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, when we see the athletes parade with their national flags and in the traditional garments of their countries.”
These international gatherings “can inspire us and remind us that we are called to form one human family” and that “the values promoted by sport — such as loyalty, sharing, hospitality, dialogue, and trust in others — are common to every person, regardless of ethnic origin, culture or religious belief,” he wrote.
While the pope praised the ability and potential of the Olympics, the majority of the letter was devoted to all ranges of sport, from these engaged in casual enjoyable to critical athleticism.
Like his predecessors, Pope Leo highlighted the virtues of partaking in bodily exercise and competitors in addition to warned in opposition to present dangers that threaten wholesome values.
He criticized the perennial issues of utilizing sports as a platform to push political or ideological pursuits, doping and searching for income or profitable in any respect prices, warning in opposition to the “dictatorship of performance.”
“When financial incentives become the sole criterion, individuals and teams may also fall prey to subjecting their performance to the corruption and influence of the gambling industry,” he wrote. “Such dishonesty not only corrupts sporting activities themselves, but also demoralizes the general public and undermines the positive contribution of sport to society as a whole.”
He additionally criticized “pay-to-play” applications, which frequently require pricey charges for kids to take part, when organized sports must be accessible to everybody.
“In other societies, girls and women are not allowed to participate in sports. Sometimes, in religious formation, especially of women, there is a mistrust and fear of physical activity and sport,” he wrote within the letter, encouraging higher efforts to make sport extra accessible to variety and fraternity, too.
He additionally warned in opposition to “transhumanism” or applied sciences, together with AI, being utilized to boost efficiency, artificially separating physique and thoughts, and “transforming the athlete into an optimized, controlled product, enhanced beyond natural limits.”
“Finally, we must question the growing assimilation of sport into the logic of video games,” Pope Leo wrote, pointing to the “extreme gamification of sport,” turning it into “simply a device for consumers” and disconnecting it from “concrete relationships.”
The pope stated, “There is an urgent need to reaffirm integral care of the human person; physical well-being cannot be separated from inner balance, ethical responsibility and openness to others,” calling on the Church “to recognize sport as an opportunity for discernment and accompaniment and to offer human and spiritual guidance.”
He requested that each nationwide bishops’ convention have an workplace or fee devoted to sport and help unite parishes, faculties, universities, oratories, associations and neighborhoods in a “shared vision.”
“Pastoral accompaniment of sport is not limited to moments of celebration, but takes place over time through sharing the efforts, expectations, disappointments and hopes of those who play daily on the field, in the gym or on the street,” he added.
He known as for searching for out these “who have combined passion for sports, sensitivity to social issues and holiness,” reminiscent of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who “perfectly combined faith, prayer, social commitment and sport.” Pope Leo canonized the 24-year-old Italian Sept. 7 on the Vatican.
The fullness of life “integrates our bodies, relationships and interior lives,” the pope wrote. “In this way, sport can truly become a school of life, where all can learn that abundance does not come from victory at any cost, but from sharing, from respecting others and from the joy of walking together.”