{"id":263,"date":"2012-06-08T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-challenges-european-soccer-stars-to-promote-noble-virtues\/"},"modified":"2012-06-08T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T21:59:00","slug":"pope-challenges-european-soccer-stars-to-promote-noble-virtues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/pope-challenges-european-soccer-stars-to-promote-noble-virtues\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope challenges European soccer stars to promote noble virtues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Warsaw, Poland, Jun 8, 2012 \/ 03:59 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Benedict XVI is urging\u00a0those participating in soccer\u2019s 2012 European Championship to promote \u201cnoble human values\u201d during the tournament which begins on June 8.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI encourage all those involved to work to ensure that this event is experienced as an expression of the most noble human virtues and actions, in a spirit of peace and genuine joy,\u201d the Pope said in a message to the President of the Polish Bishops Conference, Archbishop J\u00f3zef Michalik.<\/p>\n

\tThe month-long competition will take place in Poland and the Ukraine June 8 to July 1. It features the top 16 national sides in Europe, including the Pope\u2019s motherland of Germany and his adoptive nation of Italy. The tournament begins with an opening match in the Polish capital of Warsaw between the host nation and Greece, the 2004 champions.<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope\u2019s comments come amidst fears that the tournament could be dogged by racist abuse aimed at black soccer players.<\/p>\n

\tThe governing body of European football confirmed June 8 that the black members of the Dutch national team had been subjected to \u201cisolated incidents of racist chanting\u201d from Polish fans during the open training session in Krakow.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTeam 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,\u201d the Pope said in his message.<\/p>\n

\tHe also reflected on how soccer can help \u201covercome the logic of individualism and selfishness which often characterize human dealings, and so leave space for the logic of fraternity and love \u2026 .\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope recalled that this was very much the opinion of his soccer-loving Polish predecessor Blessed John Paul II, who believed that \u201cthe potentialities of sport make it an important instrument for the overall development of the person\u201d and a \u201cuseful factor\u201d in the \u201cconstruction of a more human society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis was because, said Pope John Paul, the sense of \u201cbrotherhood, magnanimity, honesty and respect for the body\u201d promoted by team sports helps build a civil society where \u2018competition replaces antagonism, where agreement replaces conflict and loyal confrontation replaces rancorous opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warsaw, Poland, Jun 8, 2012 \/ 03:59 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI is urging those participating in soccer’s 2012 European Championship to promote “noble human values” during the tournament which begins on June 8.<\/p>\n

\t&ldqu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nPope challenges European soccer stars to promote noble virtues<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Warsaw, Poland, Jun 8, 2012 \/ 03:59 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI is urging those participating in soccer’s 2012 European Championship to promote “noble human values” during the tournament which begins on June 8. &ldqu...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/pope-challenges-european-soccer-stars-to-promote-noble-virtues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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