This year, the Catholic Church is celebrating the special “Jubilee Year,” commemorating the 2,025th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. To honor this milestone, the late Pope Francis designated 2025 as a Holy Year, a time of spiritual renewal, under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” The yearlong celebration began worldwide on Dec. 24, 2024, with the symbolic opening of the Holy Door and will go until Jan. 6, 2026, per the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
As part of the Holy Year, smaller Jubilees are held to celebrate and perform symbolic rituals of faith and unity. At a recent Jubilee for athletes, the newly elected Pope Leo XIV addressed a congregation of athletes, fans and supporters. Using sport as a metaphor for life, he offered guidance on how everyone, regardless of background or belief, can put themselves “in play” to create unity and understanding in communities across the globe.
What is the Jubilee of Sport?
The Jubilee of Sport is one of the many events organized by the Catholic Church to celebrate Holy Year. The jubilee highlights the spiritual, moral and unifying power of sports in the richer context of faith and community. Fans, athletes, coaches and organizations from around the world are brought together to reflect on the values of sport and how those values expand beyond the game.
Held on June 15 and 16, this year’s Jubilee of Sport events coincided with the commemoration of the feast of the Holy Trinity, per USCCB. The two-day celebration included a symbolic procession through the Holy Door, panel discussions with athletes centered on the theme of sport and hope, and a sports village set up in the heart of Rome, designed to connect the world of athletics with faith, prayer and a spirit of fraternity, according to the Jubilee 2025 website.
The event concluded with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, where Pope Leo presided and addressed the congregation, per the Jubilee website.
Winning or losing teaches more than one might think
Several individuals presented the Jubilee events at a press conference preceding the event, including Novella Calligaris, a world record-setting former Olympian who was the first Italian swimmer to win an Olympic medal and is now a journalist, as well as Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and others, per Vatican News.
“For an athlete, losing is crucial — it’s the moment when one truly reveals who they are: how they recover, what they learn, and how they define their next goal,” Calligaris said.
“Every athlete carries a unique story,” she added. “The result speaks for itself, but what truly matters is the journey — what motivated them, the suffering, the setbacks, and the victories.”
Cardinal Tolentino added to the discourse, “Even when practiced alone, sport is always a communal act.”
What did the pope say?
Addressing the congregation at Sunday’s Mass, Pope Leo noted that it was not a coincidence that the Jubilee of Sport celebration and the feast of the Holy Trinity were overlapping on the same weekend.
“Sport can thus help us to encounter the Triune with God, because it challenges us to relate to others and with others, not only outwardly but also, and above all, interiorly,” he said.
Pope Leo went on to outline three ways sport serves as a tool for development, both in human and Christian development, highlighting its potential to teach humility, foster teamwork and inspire hope.
He first shared that sport fosters a sense of community, saying, “Sport, especially team sports, teaches the value of cooperating, working together and sharing.” Second, he noted we live in a world where “technology brings distant people closer together yet often creates distances between those who are physically close.”
Finally, the pope said that sport teaches the value of failing and building resilience in an increasingly competitive global culture, commenting, “Champions are not perfectly functioning machines, but real men and women, who, when they fall, find the courage to get back on their feet,” per the USCCB.
What did the pope say about sport and Christian values?
During a time marked by global tensions, increasing individualism and deep social divisions, Pope Leo’s call for shared effort and humility resonates far beyond the field of play.
The pope also discussed in his remarks how sports can relate to faith and Christian values.
Sports have the power to either divide or unite, and the pope challenged everyone to choose the latter, teaching, “Jesus is not a wall that separates, but a door that unites us,” according to Vatican News.
Pope Leo told the congregation, “Our deepest hopes challenge us to make the world of sports an arena where authentically Christian values can be exercised and communicated to others for the building of a better world,” per Vatican News.
Pope Leo’s message went beyond Catholic beliefs and values, however, speaking to universal human values such as resilience, cooperation and empathy.
By fostering teamwork and mutual respect, sports become a model for society, reflecting the collaborative spirit needed to build bridges and create a more compassionate world. These lessons offered by Pope Leo are not confined to a religious or athletic context, but they offer guidance for navigating interpersonal relationships in workplaces, schools and communities worldwide.
The pontiff reflected on the Italian word “dai,” which loosely translated means “come on” or “give,” and is often shouted by cheering fans, encouraging their teams and athletes to play harder, per BBC. Sports are more than just a performance — “it is about giving of ourselves, putting ourselves ‘in play,’” said the pope, according to USCCB.
“Being a ‘good sport’ is more important than winning or not,” he said.