Among the many facets of the life and person of the now beatified John Paul II is also his love for sport. Who does not recall those unforgettable images of him skiing and the significant titles the world of sport have given him such as the “Athlete Pope” or the “Pope of athletes”. His personal sporting activity has left its mark upon his pontificate and was expressed by his affection for the numerous sports men and women he received in audience and his pastoral concern for those engaged in this human field. Blessed John Paul II’s reflections on sport shape a thought that, while being in continuity with the magisterial tradition, produces a new characteristic, which consists in a re-reading of previous magisterial teachings regarding sport from his personal experience as an athlete. This twofold perspective needs to be taken in to account in order to correctly evaluate his more than 120 speeches throughout his pontificate which were addressed to professional athletes and youth sports associations. In doing so, he creates a synthesis that combines his “practical” experience of sport with his philosophical and theological reflections on the same.
This synthesis was seen in a concrete way in the concluding ceremony of the Jubilee of Sport during the Great Jubilee of 2000. At a certain point during the event, the pontiff, cast his pleasant gaze around the vast crowd that filled the Olympic stadium to its capacity: children were gathered at his feet; junior track athletes were near by; while gathered around him were representatives of almost every sports discipline that included track and field members with disabilities, to professional soccer players… His penetrating gaze embraced all as both Pope and as athlete! This image captures not only a historic event, and an event so symbolic for Italian sport, but also illustrates in an elegant way the climate and the style of the message that this venerated pontiff wanted to give to the world of sport. He speaks to these athletes from within the world of sport itself: he is at home in this world and he speaks to them as one of them.
Rightly so, people speak of John Paul II as one who has been a sportsman from his youth and thus he is even upheld as an excellent role model for younger athletes. However, highlighting only this does not do justice to the higher and enduring value there within. In fact, the “exemplary sportsmanship” of the Pope is expressed above all in his service: in his “being for others”; in his unlimited dedication to humanity; in way of living that was always focused on the good of the human person and with an illuminating and a passionate intelligence of this reality that knows no discrimination; in the generous gift of self that knew no reserve and struck wonderment in all those who witnessed this, even the most sceptical observer.
What is more, the ‘Athlete Pope’ explains that sport “in recent years […] has continued to grow even more as one of the characteristic phenomena of the modern era, almost a ‘sign of the times’ capable of interpreting humanity's new needs and new expectations” (Homily at the Jubilee for the World of sport, October 29, 2000). Attributing to sport the Vatican II category of a ‘sign of the times’ gives to it a value and a significance that is rich in meaning with regards to the advancement of the person, and of theological valence with respect to the economy of salvation, and particularly, with respect to the categories: creation, incarnation, redemption.
Alongside the numerous graces and blessings that flow from his holiness of life and enrich us all, the world of sport is indebted to Blessed John Paul II in a particular way for his unique insights regarding this modern phenomenon of sport and we seek his help as we continue to interpret this ‘sign of the times’.
Adapted from Carlo Mazza, Bishop of Fidenza, chapter entitled “Der Sport in der Lehre von Johannes Paul II” in Sport und Christentum, Grünwald 2008
