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01/08/2009Fina World Championships meet the Pope
"Dear friends, I accept with great pleasure your invitation to meet you during the World Championships of Aquatic Sports. Thanks for your visit: I gladly offer to each and every one of you my cordial welcome. "
This was how Pope Benedict XVI greeted the large delegation from Foro Italico that went to Castelgandolfo.
The Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, the President of the Organising Committee, Giovanni Malagò, the President of the Province, Nicola Zingaretti, and the delegate for Sports of the City of Rome, Alessandro Cochi, took part at the meeting.
"My thought goes to the President of the World Federation Julio Maglione, and FIN President Paolo Barelli- said the Pope- and I thank them also for the kind words addressed to me on behalf of you all."
After greeting and thanking all those present, from every discipline Pope Benedict XVI continued: "My most affectionate greeting is addressed to you, dear athletes from all nations of the world. You are the protagonists of this World Aquatic Championships. With your races you offer the world a thrilling show of discipline and humanity, of artistic beauty and tenacious will, demonstrating that the high goals that can be attained by your strong vitality and youth, enduring the long hard training sessions, renounces and sacrifices that were made. This is an important lesson in life also for your peers.
Sport, practiced with passion and ethics, especially for the youth, turns out to be an exercise of healthy competitive spirit and further physical development, a training school for human and spiritual values, and a privileged means of personal growth and relationships with others. Following this World Aquatic Championships and its results, it is not hard to see the potential that God has endowed upon the human body and the perfection that this can achieve. "
The Pope also said: “My dearest athletes, you are role models for your peers and your example can be a decisive influence for their future, therefore be and act as champions in the world of sport as well as in life! We first mentioned
John Paul II, who stressed the vital importance of sports in October 2000 during the festivities of the Jubilee due to the fact that sports plays a major role in the development of values for the youth, such as, loyalty, perseverance, friendship, sharing and solidarity. Moreover, sports events like this one, thanks to mass media have a strong impact on the public, since the language of sports is universal especially for the new generations. The dissemination of sport’s positive message represents and favors brotherhood and solidarity.
I hope you always attain your most highest goals. The church considers sport activities as precious tools that shape a perfect and well- balanced human person.
The President of the Italian Federation of Swimming, Paolo Barelli, so gave his regards to the Pontiff: “Sanctity, the gift of Your presence among us represents a privilege to affirm the deep link which keep us together. Meeting You gives us the opportunity to renovate our gratitude, because You welcomed our ask for a single and heterogeneous family to organize the 13th edition of the World Championships: it is formed by 5.000.000 fans, by the coaches and the executives of 1800 sport associations of the Italian Federation of Swimming, by the Organising Committee Roma09, by the International Federation and by more than 1500 volunteers”.
During the Papal Audience, Federica Pellegrini gave Pope Benedict XVI the Italian Team’s personal kit. The Pope also received other gifts by volunteers and organizers of the event. The German athlete Paul Biedermann gave the Pope the National German Swim team’s jersey with all their signatures. The Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno, the President of the Province of Rome, Nicola Zingaretti, FINA President Julio Maglione, and FIN President Paolo Barelli were present at the Papal Audience.