SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN ARE MORE THAN MERE COMPETITORS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) is, for the first time in its history, holding its world congress in Rome. For the occasion participants were received in audience by the Pope this morning, at the Apostolic Palace in Castelgandolfo.

This, the thirty-second FIMS world congress, is being attended by people from 117 countries on the five continents, "a significant indication", the Holy Father said, "of the capacity for sports and athletic endeavours to unite persons and peoples in the common pursuit of peaceful competitive excellence".

"Just as sport is more than just competition, each sportsman and woman is more than a mere competitor: they are possessed of a moral and spiritual capacity which ought to be enriched and deepened by sports and sports medicine. Sometimes, however, success, fame, medals and the pursuit of money become the primary, or even sole, motive for those involved. It has even happened from time to time that winning at all costs has replaced the true spirit of sport and has led to the abuse and misuse of the means at the disposal of modern medicine".

This, the Holy Father noted continuing his English-language address, is one of the questions being discussed at the congress. "This", he said, "is surely because you too appreciate that those whom you care for are unique and gifted individuals, regardless of athletic capabilities, and that they are called to moral and spiritual perfection prior to the call to any physical achievement. Indeed, St. Paul notes in his First Letter to the Corinthians that spiritual and athletic excellence are closely related, and he exhorts believers to train themselves in the spiritual life".

"As the Lord Himself took human flesh and became man, so each human person is called to reflect perfectly the image and likeness of God. I therefore pray for you and for those whom your work benefits, that your efforts will lead to an ever more profound appreciation of the beauty, the mystery and the potential of each human person, athletic or otherwise, able-bodied or physically challenged".

THE PERENNIAL IMPORTANCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Vatican City,  (VIS) - Yesterday evening at the Apostolic Palace in Castelgandolfo, the German diocese of Wurzburg offered a concert in honour of the Holy Father. The performance - entitled "Augustinus, a mosaic of sound" - was intended as part of an international symposium on St. Augustine which is currently taking place at the "Augustiniaum" in Rome. The piece was composed by Winfried Bohm and Wilfried Hiller, and performed by the choir of the cathedral of Wurzburg.

"The modernity of this Great Father of the Latin Church is unchanged, as is evident in the music we have just heard", said the Holy Father referring to St. Augustine in his remarks at the end of the concert. "Augustine is present and 'timeless'. Man's struggle, his search for the most intimate part of himself, for truth, for God, remains valid for all times. It does not concern only a master of rhetoric and grammar who lived in the disturbed times of late antiquity, but all human beings of all times".

"May your symposium on the relationship between cultures in Augustine's 'City of God' be a fruitful contribution to deepening your reflections on the bishop of Hippo, and to reconsigning his validity for the questions and challenges we are facing today".

THE HOLY SEE ADHERES TO PROTECTION OF DIPLOMATS CONVENTION

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "On the afternoon of 26 September 2012, before the Secretary General of the United Nations, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, deposited the instrument of adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents (the 'Protection of Diplomats Convention')", according to a communique released today by the Holy See.

"In taking this step the Holy See has declared, in both its own name and that of Vatican City State, that its intention is to make a further concrete contribution to the global commitment to combating crimes against diplomats.

"The instrument of adherence also recalls how promoting the values of fraternity, justice and peace between individuals and peoples is something particularly close to the heart of the Holy See, and that these objectives require observance of the rule of law and respect for human rights. In this perspective, adherence to the Convention confirms the Apostolic See's interest in international instruments of judicial cooperation in criminal law, the which, like this Convention, constitute an effective guarantee against criminal activities deleterious to the peace and dignity of man.

"Therefore this decision not only expresses the Holy See's desire to collaborate in further protecting diplomatic personnel (in primis, its own and those accredited to it), but also helps the international community to guard against the risks of terrorism.

"Finally, the initiative is itself part of the process which, as is well known, began some time ago and aims to adapt the Vatican judicial system to the highest international standards combating this serious problem".

AUDIENCES

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience:

- Six prelates of the Conference of Bishops of France on their "ad limina" visit:

- Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Laurent Dognin.

- Bishop Hubert Herbreteau of Agen.

- Bishop Herve Gaschignard of Aire et Dax.

- Bishop Marc Aillet of Bayonne.

- Bishop Michel Mouisse of Perigueux.

- Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Kestutis Kevalas of the clergy of the archdiocese of Kaunas, Lithuania, national director of Radio Maria, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 8,750, population 678,000, Catholics 543,000, priests 135, religious 232). The bishop-elect was born in Kaunas in 1972 and ordained a priest in 1997. He studied in Lithuania and the United States and has worked in education and the pastoral care of young people.