As the Winter Olympic Games open in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Pope Leo XIV has issued a wide-ranging letter on the value of sport, urging nations to embrace an “Olympic Truce” and warning against corruption, fanaticism, and a “dictatorship of performance” that can distort athletics’ deeper purpose.
The letter, titled “Life in Abundance,” was released by the Vatican on Feb. 6 on the occasion of the XXV Winter Olympic Games (Feb. 6–22) and the XIV Paralympic Games (March 6–15).
The pope describes sport as more than elite competition, calling it “a shared activity, open to all and salutary for both body and spirit, even becoming a universal expression of our humanity.”
A call for an Olympic Truce
Reflecting on sport’s role in peace-building, Leo recalls the ancient Greek tradition of the Olympic Truce — “an agreement to suspend hostilities before, during, and after the Olympic Games” — so that travel and competition could proceed safely.
By contrast, he warns that war “results from a radicalization of conflict and a refusal to cooperate with each other,” such that “the adversary is considered a mortal enemy, to be isolated and, if possible, eliminated.”
“In a world thirsting for peace,” he writes, “I wholeheartedly encourage all nations to rediscover and respect this instrument of hope that is the Olympic Truce, a symbol and promise of a reconciled world.”
The human person at the center
Turning to sport’s formative value, the pope anchors his reflection in Christ’s words: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). From a Christian perspective, he writes, “the human person must always remain the focal point of sport in all its expressions, even those aiming for competitive and professional excellence.”
Leo traces the Church’s positive engagement with physical culture through St. Paul’s athletic imagery, medieval theology’s rejection of gnostic and Manichean denials of the body, and the contributions of thinkers such as Hugh of Saint Victor and St. Thomas Aquinas. He also points to major educators including St. Philip Neri and St. John Bosco and notes how the Church’s modern reflection on sport grows through the 20th century and after the Second Vatican Council.
“The Second Vatican Council,” he writes, “placed its positive assessment of sport in the broader context of culture,” encouraging leisure and exercise as part of balanced human development and stronger fraternal relations.
Tennis, teamwork, and the ‘flow experience’
Using tennis as an example, the pope describes “a prolonged rally” as one of the sport’s most enjoyable moments because “each player pushes the other to the limit of his or her skill level. The experience is exhilarating, and the two players challenge each other to improve.”
He also emphasizes how sport can draw people out of egocentricity, especially in team settings. Quoting Pope Francis, Leo recalls the call to athletes: “Be team players … it is an opportunity to encounter and be with others, to help one another, to compete in mutual esteem and to grow in brotherhood.”
When team sports are “not polluted by the worship of profit,” he writes, young people “put themselves on the line” — “a tremendous educational opportunity.”
Corruption, doping, and fanaticism
Leo warns that sporting values are threatened when “business becomes the primary or sole motivation,” because decisions then cease to be rooted in “human dignity” and the true good of athletes and communities.
“When the objective is to maximize profit,” he cautions, “what can be measured or quantified is overvalued to the detriment of the incalculable and important human dimensions: ‘It only counts if it can be counted.’”
He also warns about the “dictatorship of performance,” which “can lead to the use of performance-enhancing substances and other forms of dishonesty,” and he underscores that “rejecting doping and all forms of corruption … is not merely a disciplinary issue but one that touches the very heart of sport.”
The pope similarly cautions against fandom becoming fanaticism, noting it can become “a source of polarization that leads to verbal and physical violence,” turning stadiums into places of confrontation rather than encounter.
Victory, defeat, and a ‘quasi-religious’ temptation
Leo says sport educates in a unique way through the relationship between winning and losing: “Losing… does not entail personal failure but can become a lesson in truth and humility.”
At the same time, he warns that sport can take on a “quasi-religious dimension,” where “stadiums are perceived as secular cathedrals, matches as collective liturgies and athletes as saviors.” Such “sacralization,” he writes, can reveal a real hunger for meaning and communion, but it risks hollowing out both sport and spirituality.
He also cautions against narcissism and the “cult of image and performance,” which can “fragment” the person by “separating body from mind and spirit.”
Saints, politics, and technology
Calling for models of integrated holiness, Leo writes: “We need to rediscover those who have combined passion for sports, sensitivity to social issues and holiness,” pointing to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati as a young man who “perfectly combined faith, prayer, social commitment, and sport.”
He warns, too, against politicizing international competitions: “Major sporting events are meant to be places of encounter and mutual admiration, not stages for the affirmation of political or ideological interests.”
The pope also highlights contemporary challenges from transhumanism and artificial intelligence, cautioning that performance technologies can “transform the athlete into an optimized, controlled product, enhanced beyond natural limits.”
A pastoral approach to sport
Finally, Leo urges local Churches to treat sport as a space for “discernment and accompaniment,” calling for pastoral initiatives that offer “human and spiritual guidance” and help make sport “a welcoming space” for communion.
He concludes by returning to the theme of “life in abundance,” writing: “This is not an accumulation of successes or performances but a fullness of life that integrates our bodies, relationships, and interior lives.” Sport, he adds, can become “a school of life,” teaching that “abundance does not come from victory at any cost but from sharing, from respecting others, and from the joy of walking together.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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