Sports stars can be role models for youths, pope says

Published: 2007-10-08

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said sports stars can be models for young people, but only if they remember that winning isn't everything. "In the practice of sport at every level, one needs to preserve the inner harmony between body and spirit, and avoid reducing sport to the search for results," he told members of Austria's national Alpine ski team Oct. 6. The pope said that when practiced with the right spirit sports can help promote human development and lead to the discovery of individual capabilities and talents. Human dignity should always be respected in these sporting activities, he said. Sports figures remain models for youths, he said, and therefore should exhibit the virtues that are associated traditionally with athletic contests: determination, a spirit of sacrifice, and inner and outer discipline, as well as respect for opponents and an awareness of one's own limits. "At a time when there is a loss of values and a lack of direction, athletes can offer strong motivation to struggle in favor of good in various contexts of life, from the family to the workplace," he said.

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