When sport becomes a secular and spiritual rite

Sport is not only a metaphor for life, but also a universal language that unites peoples, cultures, generations. This was clearly understood at the recent press conference presenting the sporting events of the Jubilee of Hope, led by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. A vision, his, that gave us a lucid synthesis: "Sport has an extraordinary educational power, because it teaches discipline, solidarity and hope. It is one of the most authentic forms of human and spiritual language'.

In the heart of the Jubilee 2025, sport is therefore called upon to play a leading role not for the agonism itself, but for what it can generate: communion, commitment, inner growth, inclusion. Tolentino de Mendonça indicated this path as an integral part of the great pilgrimage of mankind towards God: 'He who runs towards the finish line,' he said, 'shows us that man is made to seek, to struggle, to believe. It is a hymn to hope that is played out on the field, but which is born within the heart'.

So the sporting events planned during the Jubilee months will not be mere demonstrations: they will be testimonies, bridges, prayers on the move. There will be tournaments, relays of peace, inclusive matches involving Olympic athletes, young people from the peripheries, people with disabilities, religious and lay people. An outgoing church, to use the words so dear to Francis, which also comes out of the temples to meet man in his places of joy, toil and challenge.

Sport tells us, often better than many speeches, the sense of limit and possibility. Alex Zanardi, witness of resilience and light, said it well: 'Sport teaches you to give your best, even when everything seems lost. And when you start again, you discover that you can go beyond what you thought possible'. Bebe Vio, a symbol of contagious courage, reiterated this: 'In sport as in life, no one is ever truly alone. Every victory is always a journey made together'.

The words of these athletes become living icons of what the Jubilee wants to reawaken: hope not as a vague illusion, but as a concrete strength that comes from being together, from supporting each other, from getting back up after falls. It is no coincidence that the motto chosen for the sports section of the Jubilee is 'Together, running towards the future', indicating not just an action, but a direction, an us that becomes a testimony.