The halls of the Vatican were filled with gold, silver, and bronze to celebrate the 30 medals Italy won at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, plus another 16 medals from the Paralympic Games.
At the event, the athletes' cross was also present, having arrived in Milan thanks to Athletica Vaticana, the Catholic Church's sports federation. Now the cross has returned to the Vatican to be presented to the pope. There, he spoke about the promotion of peace through sport.
POPE LEO XIV
I wanted to recall, on the occasion of these Games, the signifigance of the Olympic truce. With your presence, you have made this possibility of peace tangible as a truly prophetic act: breaking the cycle of violence to foster encounters.
But Italy faced a critical moment at the Olympics. Athlete Rebecca Passler tested positive in a pre-competition anti-doping test and was temporarily suspended. She was unable to compete, although her case was later overturned due to claims of cross-contamination.
Pope Leo XIV emphasized that, above all, sports should be experienced authentically:
POPE LEO XIV
At the same time, we are well aware that sport also carries its own temptations: the temptation to perform at any cost, which can lead to doping, the temptation of profit, which turns the game into a market and the athlete into a star, and the temptation with spectacle, which reduces the athlete to an image or a number.
The Clementine Hall, where the meeting took place, has special significance: the vaulted ceiling depicts the apotheosis of Saint Clement, which is a symbol of spiritual victory. It is a fitting place for the pope to host the Italian Olympians in the wake of their record-breaking year at Olympics this past winter.
