Yesterday, Wednesday 26 October, at the Vatican, the Holy Father Francis received in Audience the Selección Argentina de Futbol Talla Baja.

We publish below the words of greeting that the Pope addressed to those present in the Audience:

Greetings of the Holy Father

I thank you for this visit. What you are doing is courageous, that is to say with courage. Courage to break new ground, an experience in which you put everything you have, and you do it with pleasure. You are courageous, take care of this courage, and never, never throw it away: the courage to go forward in life as you are. With your intellectual, emotional, physical values, everything. In other words, see that in life, one can look at things in two ways: upwards or downwards. That is to say: there are the usual pessimists and whatever happens to them, they look down: Oh, that’s too bad… And they get depressed, and the only thing these people do is build bitter horizons. And then there are the optimists, like yourselves, who look upwards at any difficulty: forward, to progress, to walk, to walk as we are now with what I have. In other words, capitalize on everything, even capitalize on what seems negative. And that is human maturity. And I am happy to see that you have chosen this path of maturity and have reached the level you have reached.

That is great. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. And I bless you with all my heart. May God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And pray for me. Pray for me, and I pray for you. Now I would like to greet you one by one.