Pope Francis recently sent a message to the Pontifical Council for the Laity on a topic that doesn’t often reach the Vatican radar: sports and coaches. An excerpt:

The influence of an educator, especially for young people, depends more on what he is as a person and the way he lives than what he says. Therefore, how important it is that a coach be an example of integrity, of coherence, of good judgment, of impartiality, but also of joy of living, of patience, of capacity to esteem and of benevolence to all, especially the most disadvantaged! And how important it is that he be an example of faith! Faith, in fact, always helps us to raise our gaze to God, not to absolutize one of our activities, including sport, be it amateurish or competitive and thus have the right detachment and wisdom to relativize the successes or the failures. 

See the rest of Pope Francis’s message here. 

 

Matt Emerson's essays have appeared in a number of publications, including America, Commonweal, and the Wall Street Journal. The Catholic Press Association named his September 2012 essay "Help Their Unbelief," published in America, as the "best essay" in the category of national general interest magazine for 2012. He is the author of the book Why Faith? A Journey of Discovery (Paulist Press 2016).Articles:Fruitful Searching (Jan. 5-12, 2015)Preambles for Faith (May 13, 2013)Help Their Unbelief (Sept. 10, 2012)Posts at The Ignatian Educator