2010 News
- News Archive
Pope Launches Sport Foundation
At a celebration of Catholic Education held at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, on Friday 17th September, Pope Benedict XVI launched a fitting legacy to his well-loved predecessor, Pope John Paul II. This took place during a school assembly that was broadcast live to over 800,000 school pupils across England, Scotland and Wales.
32 children from school years 9 to 11 were selected from state, independent and special needs schools across the UK as a result of having achieved local or national success in sport or who have excelled against the odds and achieved in the sporting field to make a sporting pledge before the Holy Father to engage in sport and “play with the right spirit, enjoy myself, give of my best, respect others, myself and the rules”.
Recognising the enormous potential within sport to foster healthy values and virtues, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales wish to move beyond the boundaries of sporting excellence found in Catholic schools to encourage greater engagement with, and participation by, Catholics generally in sport. They believe that Catholic teaching has much to offer the sporting world, and that sport, when engaged with appropriately, can offer much in the area of human development.
Pope Benedict XVI said to students: “We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?
“There is always a bigger picture over and above… the different skills you learn. I pray that you too will feel encouraged to practise virtue and to grow in knowledge and friendship with God.
“In view of London’s forthcoming Olympic Games, it has been a pleasure to inaugurate this Sports Foundation, named in honour of Pope John Paul II, and I pray that all will give glory to God through their sporting activities, as well as bringing enjoyment to themselves and others.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols said on the creation of the Foundation: “With the Olympic Games less than two years away, we have a moment of opportunity and a whole process in which the aspirations of young people, the meanings of habit and routine in their lives, and the whole notion of achieving excellence can begin to be lifted up again.
“Within the 2012 Games there are seeds for all sorts of good ideas and good initiatives. The John Paul II Foundation for Sport is a venture that I am particularly interested in as it uses sport to try and introduce to young and old alike the importance of health, the dignity of our bodies, the care of physical well-being and its spiritual meaning.”
At a time when sports news fills both the front and back pages of newspapers, it is fitting that the John Paul II Foundation for Sport has been established by the Catholic Bishops as a legacy in the UK to the forthcoming 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the life and witness of Pope John Paul II. He was himself a passionate sportsman and spoke 120 times during his pontificate about sport, insistent that sport should have its own unique celebration during the Great Jubilee Year 2000.
One of his last major acts as Pontiff was to form a Vatican Office for Church and Sport in August 2004. Since this time bi-annual global conferences have taken place in Rome to examine the role of the Christian faith within the sporting world.
At the Foundation’s launch, Brian Kidd, who scored for Manchester United in the 1968 European Cup Final victory while still a teenager, and is now Assistant Manager of Manchester City Football Club, lit an Inauguration Candle in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI as a symbol of God’s light present in the world of sport. The schoolchildren made their pledge before the Pope and later lit their own individual candles which they took back to their schools as a reminder that the Christian faith is something to be passed on, and that Christ is present in and through sport.
On his involvement in the Foundation’s launch, Brian Kidd said: "I am thrilled to be invited to be a member of the board for the Foundation, and I hope I can make a contribution to the work with young people in sport. I think the establishment of the Foundation is a fitting tribute to the work of John Paul II, himself an accomplished sportsman, and it is a timely contribution I hope in the run up to the 2012 games in London.”
Professor Simon Lee, Chair of the Board of the John Paul II Foundation for Sport, said: “Through this initiative, the Church is inviting all-comers to join in creating a joyful legacy for 2012 and beyond, in the spirit of John Paul II’s love of sport.
“John Paul II stands, in sport and wider life, for being both competitive and gracious, cherishing both excellence and inclusivity. As Pope he praised the Olympic Games and the discipline and sacrifice of the world’s greatest athletes. Yet he also volunteered as a boy to switch sides to make football games more even and less divisive.
“His greeting to participants in the European Games for the Blind in 1985 sums up the inspiration of all disability sport, right through to the elite level of the Paralympics, declaring that your sporting activities ‘are a sign of your great human capabilities. You do not allow yourselves to be overcome by difficulties, but are determined to conquer them. In this you show courage and great gifts of mind and will.’
“He challenged football to become ‘a field of authentic humanity, where young people are encouraged to learn the great values of life and to spread everywhere the great virtues that are the basis of a worthy human society, such as tolerance, respect for human dignity, peace and brotherhood.’
“It is not only because of his personal interest that the Church sees value in sport properly understood and practised. We are grateful to Pope Benedict XVI for generously launching this Foundation in honour of his predecessor and as a gift to wider society. As Pope Pius XII put it in 1945, ‘How can the Church not be interested in sport?’ All who love sport are invited to join this new Foundation in promoting practical opportunities to share in its very best values.”
