Vatican City, 19 February, 2021 / 7:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis said on Friday that participation in sports can help people to grow in holiness, stressing the importance of teamwork.
In a Feb. 19 meeting with an Italian soccer team, the pope said that “sports, and also soccer, are a path of life, of maturity, and of holiness.”
The pope received the U.C. Sampdoria team from Genoa for an audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. The team presented the pope with a framed custom jersey embossed with the name “Papa Francesco.”
“The most beautiful victories are those you win as a team,” Pope Francis told the soccer players.
“At home, if a footballer plays only for himself, we say ‘he eats the ball,’ he takes the ball for himself and does not look at the others. No. Always as a team.”