VATICAN CITY, 7 NOV 2009 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from the Pope to Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and to participants in a study seminar on the theme: "Sport, education and faith: a new season for Catholic sport associations", being held in Rome on 6 and 7 November.
"Through sporting activities", writes the Holy Father, "the ecclesial community contributes to the formation of young people, providing an environment appropriate for their human and spiritual growth. Indeed, sporting initiatives - when aimed at the integral development of the individual and administered by qualified and competent personnel - represent a fruitful opportunity for priests, religious and lay people to become real educators and life-teachers for the young.
"Thus it is necessary", the Pope adds, "that in our own time - when there is a pressing need to educate the new generations - the Church should continue to support sport for the young, making full use of sporting activity in its positive aspects such as, for example, the capacity to simulate competitiveness, courage and tenacity in pursuing goals, while avoiding, however, any tendency that disfigures its nature with practices that can even damage the body, as in the case of doping".
Benedict XVI highlights how, "through co-ordinated educational activities, mangers, trainers and Catholic workers must present themselves as experienced guides for adolescents, helping them to develop their sporting potential without overlooking those human qualities and Christian virtues that bring the individual to full maturity".
MESS/SPORT EDUCATION/RYLKO VIS 20091109 (260)
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