By Devin Watkins
Four athletes from Athletica Vaticana are set to take part in the 20th Mediterranean Games, which will be held in the southern Italian city of Taranto from Aug 21 to Sep 3.
Around 4,000 athletes from 26 countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe, all linked by the Mediterranean Sea, will compete in 33 different sports.
The members of the Holy See’s sports association who will compete at the Games include Fabrizio Peloni and Tiziano Lucarelli in men’s padel doubles, Daniele Fontana in épée fencing, and Emiliano Morbidelli in cycling.
Ahead of the event, Pope Leo XIV expressed his hope that the 2026 Mediterranean Games may offer the world a visible sign of peace and encounter.
“This week the Mediterranean Games will begin in Taranto,” he said at the Angelus address on Sunday. “I hope that this sporting event may be a prophecy of peace and fraternity among the peoples of this region and of the whole world.”
Pope Leo has frequently said that sport reaches its deepest meaning when competition becomes encounter and athletes recognize each other as members of the same human family.
On the first day of the Mediterranean Games, Archbishop Ciro Miniero of Taranto will preside at Mass in the city’s cathedral, joined by Bishop Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, to welcome the Cross of the Athletes.
According to a press release, the Cross will remain in the cathedral throughout the Games as a spiritual point of reference, accompanying athletes as it has at international sporting events since the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Archbishop Miniero said sport offers a useful opportunity for professionals and amateurs, including children, to look past social differences and promote fraternity.
“In a world suffering due to war and the climate emergency,” he said, “we have the chance to show that peace is possible and that the athletes who hail from ‘opposing factions’ are instead women and men animated by a genuine spirit of fraternity, beyond their place of birth or creed.”
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, said the presence of Athletica Vaticana offers a significant gesture of fraternity.
He called the Cross of the Athletes “a wordless message” affirming that every life, even through sweat and suffering, deserves love and respect. – Vatican News
