On World Day of Sport for Peace and Development, Pope Francis spoke directly to the men and women who dedicate themselves to sport.<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS The Spanish soccer team from Ponferradina traveled to Rome and greeted the Pope after his General Audience. <\/p>\n JOS\u00c9 FERN\u00c1NDEZ NIETO They also brought gifts for the Pope, including, the Virgen de la Encina, patron saint of El Bierzo, in Ponferrada, Spain, and a jersey with the name Francisco and the number 100, for the team's hundred year anniversary.<\/p>\n Last year, Pope Francis also spoke on the value of sport to the players of the Italian soccer team La Spezia.<\/p>\n POPE FRANCIS In early February of this year, the mother of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo attended the Pope's General Audience and gave him her son's jersey as a gift. <\/p>\n Just a few months earlier the Pope received the jersey of one of Ronaldo's great rivals, Leo Messi. <\/p>\n Yet Pope Francis has said he does not like rivalries in sports. The Vatican soccer team, referred to as 'the Pope's team,' symbolizes that mentality.<\/p>\n POPE FRANCIS Pope Francis is a known sports fan, so much so that the jerseys he receives have their own display case in the Vatican museums. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n SO<\/p>\n TR: JM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 7, 2022.On World Day of Sport for Peace and Development, Pope Francis spoke directly to the men and women who dedicate themselves to sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Kdywr2xLlig","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bponferradinaeng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bponferradinaint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Sport, with its values, can play an important role in the world, opening paths of harmony among peoples, provided it does not lose its gratuitousness: sport for sport's sake, and does not become commercial. That amateur spirit, typical of true sport. <\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>President, SD Ponferradina
\nWe prayed for everyone, for an end to this cursed war and especially for all Spaniards, from Castilia y Leon, from El Bierzo and for our beloved Ponferradina, of course. <\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I like to see young men and women's efforts in sports because sports are a marvel. Sports bring out the best in us. Continue with this.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>It's a team without divisions and the main rule is inclusion. <\/em><\/p>\n