During the General Audience on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Pope Francis recalled that observed yesterday, April 6, was the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, instituted by the United Nations. “I hope that this Day can re-launch the sports experience as a team event, to foster a solidary dialogue between different cultures and peoples.”

In this line, the Holy Father encouraged Athletica Vaticana, the first and only sports association established in the Vatican, “to continue in the commitment to build the culture of fraternity in the sports realm, paying special attention to the frailest people, thus making themselves witnesses of peace.”

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

As the UN explains on its website, this Day is “an opportunity to recognize the role that sport and physical activity play in the communities and lives of people worldwide.”

Sport, it points out, “has the power to change the world and, historically, it has played an important role in all societies, be it in sports competitions and physical activity as such, or even in games.” It “is a fundamental right and a powerful tool to strengthen social ties and to promote sustainable development, peace, wellbeing, solidarity and respect.”

“Sport helps to promote justice, team work, equality, inclusion and perseverance (. . .). It goes beyond borders, challenges stereotypes and inspires hope among nations, but we will only be able to enjoy it has before, if we recover better and put an end to the pandemic, ensuring that everyone is protected against COVID-19,” he added.

Athletica Vaticana

As the association explains on its Website in Italian, the Pope himself described it as “a reality that witnesses concretely, on the streets and in the midst of the people, the solidary face of sport.” In a special audience on May 20, 2020, the Holy Father asked the association to give “concrete witness of how sport should be: a bridge of peace that unites women and men of different religions and cultures, fostering inclusion, friendship, solidarity and education.”

The Pontiff also said that the first gesture of Athletica Vaticana was “to welcome as ‘honorary’ athletes some migrant young people and a girl with a serious neurodegenerative illness. It is “precisely with this style of solidarity and spirituality open to all, in friendship, that the association invites all, truly all to run together in the race of life,” he concluded.