Sport, Family, the Church. Lourdes

The Church is not Indifferent to Sport - 8 June

European Football Cup

“This sporting event involves not only the organisers, the athletes and the fans but, in various ways, the whole of society”, the Pope writes. “The Church cannot remain indifferent to such an event, and in particular to the spiritual needs of the participants”.

Benedict XVI quoted words of Blessed John Paul II, who said that “the potentialities of sport make it an important instrument for the overall development of the person, and a useful factor for the construction of a more human society”.This is because “the sense of brotherhood, magnanimity, honesty and respect for the body - virtues which are undoubtedly indispensable for every good athlete - contribute to building a civil society where competition replaces antagonism, where agreement replaces conflict and loyal confrontation replaces rancorous opposition”.

Pope Benedict goes on: “Team sports such as football are an important way to educate people to respect one another including their adversaries, to show a spirit of personal sacrifice for the good of the entire group, and to respect the gifts of each member of the team; in a word, to overcome the logic of individualism and selfishness which often characterise human dealings, and so leave space for the logic of fraternity and love, the only thing capable of authentically promoting the common good, at all levels”.

State Must Recognise Specific Identity of Family - 3 June

In order to guarantee the common good, the laws of State “must draw justification and strength from natural law, which is the foundation for a social order adapted to the dignity of the human person”. An exclusively positivist view of law cannot provide ethical guidance.

The State is also called “to recognise the specific identity of the family, founded on marriage and open to life, and the right of parents freely to choose the education and formation of their children. ... The State fails to do justice to families if it does not support freedom of education for the good of all society”, the Pope said.

Ship of Peter May Falter

but the Lord is Present - 13 June

“I simply want to say thank you for everything I have been able to experience over these days, for this experience of the living Church. If from time to time we may think that the Ship of Peter is at the mercy of ruthless adversaries, it is also true that we see that the Lord is present, He is alive, He truly rose again and holds the government of the world and the heart of mankind in His hand. This experience of the living Church, which lives from the love of God, which lives for the risen Christ has been, let us say, the gift of these days. Thus let us give thanks to the Lord”.

Benedict at Lourdes Grotto in Vatican - 1 June

“We must always learn from our heavenly Mother; her faith invites us to look beyond appearances and firmly to believe that our daily difficulties are, in fact, part of a springtime which has already begun with the risen Christ”. “This evening we wish to draw from Mary’s Immaculate Heart with renewed trust, allowing ourselves to be imbued with her joy which had its most profound source in the Lord. Joy, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, is a fundamental distinguishing characteristic of Christians. It is founded on hope in God, it draws strength from incessant prayer and it enables us to face trials and suffering with serenity. As St. Paul reminds us: ‘Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer’. These words of the Apostle are like an echo of Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ and exhort us to reproduce, in our own selves and in our everyday lives, the sentiments of joy in the faith expressed in that Marian canticle”