SAINT JOHN PAUL II, THE SPORTSMAN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 27 Apr 2014
John Paul II along with Pope John XXIII were canonized as saints Sunday amidst millions of devout Catholics at the Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City.
John Paul II, the most popular among Filipinos, was certainly the most sporty of all the popes. He practiced physical culture, and considered sports fans to have their preferences and gladly accepted people who are sports audiences. In his teachings, he included devotion for sports in a large scale. No other Pope in Vatican history has dealt with the sport on such a very enthusiastic way than the new saint.
"Sport is certainly one of the most important phenomena that could pass profound values commonly understood language. It may be a carrier of the lofty ideals of humanistic and spiritual, if it is practiced in the spirit of full respect for the rules, but it may also betray its true purpose if it serves foreign interests that ignore the central role of a man," said Pope John Paul II as quoted by Polish website babol.pl.
As a young boy, the future Pope often performed in the school band and football team. Since the game of football was prohibited in their campus, the discipline of the sport developed outside the walls of the school
The love of sport by John Paul II, which he nurtured since his youth, was visible throughout the pontificate. He was the first pope to sit in the grandstand of the stadium as a football fan. During his papacy, he received dozens of clubs and sports organizations on private audiences. He also welcomed former and active players, including Boxer Muhammad Ali and the Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher. Italian Olympic Committee President Gianni Patrucci often stressed that Karol Wojtyla was a great athlete.
The former Cardinal Wojtyla was a canoe and kayak enthusiast and took part in canoeing in the rivers Słupia, Brda and Wda. For the last several years the river has organized Canoeing Trip on Footsteps of John Paul II.
Father Wojtyla loved the mountains and his favorites were Tatras, Beskids and Bieszczady. He never forgot the names of the peaks and ran the trails. He joined numerous hiking in mountain resorts in the Beskid Mountains, the Sudetenland, and Tatra Mountains.
During his papacy, John Paul II did not abandon his youthful interests. In his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, he built a swimming pool. As long as health allowed him, regularly he swam, skied, ran, and worked out in the gym. He went skiing in the Alps or the Alban Hills, and one day he invited the President of Italy in his skiing sojourn.
In October 29, 2000, more than 60,000 people in the world of sports attendance in the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Rome, where Pope John Paul celebrated Mass.
"Looking at you, I remember sporting experience of my life," said the Pope, who in his youth has played in Wadowice, Poland the game of football as a defender and then as a goalkeeper.
After the end of the liturgical part of the Olympic Stadium followed a football match pitting Italy and the rest of the world, where the greatest stars of Italian and world football played.
He was the first pope in history who was at the stadium cheering for his team. He changed his preset program and decided to watch the entire game, not just the first half, according to Czeslaw Michalski of the website up.krakow.pl.
He was a sympathizer of Cracovia club and twice in 1996 and 2005, he met in the Vatican a delegation of the oldest continuously existing club which was established in mid-1906. The Pope was an honorary member of Barcelona football team and each year has received a seasonal pass for the Catalan club matches.
"Your presence gives me the opportunity to remind how important is sport in today's society. Church considers sporting activity, grown in full compliance with the applicable rules, as an important educational tool, especially for young generations," the Pope said.
"Sport reveals not only a rich man's physical abilities, but also his intellectual and spiritual capacities. Relies not only on physical strength and endurance of muscles, but also has a soul, and therefore must fully show his face. Why true athlete should not allow this that guided him only the obsessive pursuit of physical perfection or absolute surrender to the laws of production and consumption purposes or exclusively utilitarian and hedonistic," wrote the Pope.
In 1984, while at the Olympic Stadium in Rome said that the sport is not only the joy of life and fun, but also the study of peaceful coexistence, openness to other cultures, the way contacts between peoples. Six years later, he warned against the dangers of modern sport, which are the pursuit of money, commercialization, doping and violence in stadiums.
In October 2000, Pope John Paul II condemned racism in football stadiums. He said that fans should not let racial be insulted. "Sometimes, unfortunately, the sports world is exposed to incidents that destroy the true value of competition."
He stressed that the task of the modern sport is providing young people with values such as loyalty, perseverance, friendship, cooperation, solidarity.
"The athletes have a great responsibility. They are called to make the sport an opportunity for cooperation and dialogue, overcome language barriers, racial and cultural contribution to the development of the civilization of love," taught the Pope, appealing to go further in its efforts to become a sport factor in the emancipation of the poorest countries would not exclude anyone, to promote tolerance, brotherhood and solidarity.
In August 2004, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican created the sport department to emphasize its importance. "Sport is an important position, both on a personal level as well as globally. It is the nervous system of the modern world and the new field of activity of the Church. The Church, which has always shown interest in important aspects of human coexistence, without a doubt, must apply also to sport, which is a field for the new evangelization," said in a statement published in the Vatican. John Paul II expressed his hope that the new department will be working.
Saint John Paul II surely will be the Patron Saint of Sportsmen.
Photo of Mayor and Mrs. Maloney Samaco before the image of Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City in 2011 during his beatification.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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