Sports are an opportunity for spiritual growth, Pope Leo tells swimmers

June 26, 2026

Pope Leo XIV described sports as a “medicine for both body and spirit, when it is practiced well” and an “opportunity for spiritual growth.”

Sport “integrates the different dimensions of the human person and directs them toward very important values such as commitment, solidarity, and honesty,” Pope Leo said during a June 25 audience with executives of the Italian Swimming Federation and participants in the Sette Colli (Seven Hills) international swimming competition. “In sporting activities, especially at the competitive level, human beings exercise their willpower, but they do so to the extent that they are motivated. And here the quality of an athlete becomes evident: it is revealed by the quality of his or her motivations.”

The Pope continued:

Sport is also an opportunity for spiritual growth. Swimming, in this regard, has something special about it. Indeed, we practise it while being immersed in an element—water—that surrounds us. This symbolically recalls an aspect that has been part of us since our mother’s womb: to live means learning to move in harmony with others and with the environment around us. For us Christians, moreover, water is a symbol of Baptism and of new life in Christ.

“There is, however, another reason why I am glad of your presence,” the Pontiff added. “All of you, coming from different countries, have gathered here, inspired by the same passion and the same values, beyond every difference of language, nationality, and culture. This reality, typical of international sporting events, offers a sign of hope, a sign of the world we desire; it contributes to peaceful encounters among peoples and to fraternity.”

 

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Further information:

• To Members of the "Federazione Italiana Nuoto", the Italian Swimming Federation (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 6/25/26)
• Audience with the Executives of the Italian Swimming Federation and the Participants in the International Swimming Championships – 62nd Sette Colli Trophy (Holy See Press Office, 6/25/26)