Pope Leo XIV privately meets Naples, De Laurentis presents his No. 10 jersey

05 May 28th Naples held a championship parade. On the day after the team took a convertible bus to celebrate, the team led by De Laurentis & Conte arrived in the Vatican to receive a private reception from Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV: The media says I am a Roman football fan. But, you are welcome. That's what the media said, not everything you read in the media is true. Welcome! And congratulations on winning the league! This is a grand event in the city of Naples.

Winning the league championship is a long journey, the goal achieved at the end, the most important of which is not a temporary outbreak or an extraordinary performance of a champion player. League championships are won by teams, and when I say ‘team’, I refer to both the players, the head coach and his entire team, and to the sports club. So, I'm glad to host you now.

to highlight this aspect of your success, I think this is the most important. And I want to say that the same is true from a social perspective. We know how popular football is in Italy and around the world. Then, even from this perspective, I think that events like this that go beyond the purely technical sports level have a social value that is a model of a team, a broad sense of teamwork, in which individual talents are used to serve the collective.

There is one last thing, I want to take this opportunity to express it, which makes me worry. That is the educational significance. Unfortunately, when sports become business, it has the potential to lose the value that makes it educational, and may even become anti-educational.

Especially when dealing with teenagers. I urge parents and sports managers: we must pay close attention to the moral qualities of competitive sports, because it is related to the growth of young people. I think we all understand, no need to say much. Thank you for your visit. Congratulations again! May the Lord bless you all and your family.