“Amongst all unimportant subjects, football (soccer) is the most important,” Pope John Paul II once said.
John Paul the Great was an athlete himself who relayed his love of the beautiful game when he stated those words.
He is not the only Pope to embrace soccer. Benedict XVI says in Sport in the Magisterium of Benedict XVI (an excellent article reviewing Benedict’s views on soccer and sport), “Soccer can be a vehicle for education on the values of honesty and solidarity,” seeing the sport’s lessons of perseverance and determination as a preparation for life.
Then there is Pope Francis, who, being from Argentina, is a huge soccer fan.
He once stated, “In soccer, you have to deal with the penalties when they are called; you can’t choose when. Life is like that, you have to deal with challenges even if you don’t like it.”
Like his predecessors, he sees the incredible opportunity that this Women’s World Cup 2023 provides in relation to evangelization and has been very influential in promoting women’s soccer in another way; he has influenced the start-up of two different teams that have played many matches, including some from Italian Serie “A.” One of the squads is a Vatican team while the other has a lineup that consists solely of nuns.
“Pope Francis has given considerable impulse to women within the Vatican (including sports),” Vatican sports representative Danilo Zennaro told The Guardian.
Through his support for the Vatican Amateur Sports Association, Francis was instrumental in the formation of the Vatican National Women’s Soccer Team in 2019. The squad is made up of Vatican workers as well as wives and daughters of employees.
Three players have played in high-level soccer leagues including star striker Eugenie Tcheugoue who is from Cameroon and serves as captain. The biggest priorities for the Vatican women’s soccer team are fostering connections and friendships.
A second team that Pope Francis strongly encouraged starting was the National Team for Nuns, following through on a goal by former footballer Moreno Buccianti to start a team of sisters. Buccianti, who also started a national team for priests, told The Guardian, “The main aim is to attract young people back to the church.”
All the nuns had to get permission from the Mother Superiors of their different congregations across Italy. They had to also endure the laughter of many people and the occasional negative comment from a fellow sister.
The team has an international flavour including Romanian, Mexican, Malagasy, and, of course, Italian, and has already faced several opponents, including the Vatican team.
One similarity to the Vatican team is the few former top soccer players on the roster. Sister Emilia Jitaru was invited to try out for Romania’s national women’s team before she had a miraculous life-changing experience. She had been an atheist who was engaged to be married when a priest encouraged her to simply attend Mass once. That day she received her calling. Besides the efforts to evangelize, both of these teams hope to be great examples of such virtues as humility, resilience, and fortitude. “Creating a team is a lot of hard work,” Sister Jitaru told The Guardian.
Speaking of these virtues, there may not be a better example than Canada’s own Christine Sinclair. FIFA 2023 in Australia and New Zealand will be her sixth World Cup, along with her four Olympics. Despite being the all-time women’s goal leader (190) in international competition and the demand for her to be the face of women’s soccer in Canada, Sinclair is well known for her shy and unassuming way.
Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting FIFA 2023 from Thursday, July 20, to Sunday, Aug. 20, with a record 32 nations competing.
In recent years Sinclair has also accepted a smaller role on the team without complaint or hard feelings. When she is not playing, she is a huge cheerleader for her friends.
“I think her biggest asset is how humble she is,” former coach John Herdmann told CBC Sports. “Regardless of how much stardom she could have, she wants to keep it simple and be with her team. She is not interested in doing glitzy celebrity things.”
Throughout her many years as a star, Sinclair has overcome numerous injuries, especially later in her career, and is known for her incredible work ethic during recovery. Even now she is dealing with a left leg injury.
She also showed courage after losing both her parents within a year in 2016-17. It is very possible that this will be our last chance to see Christine Sinclair in a major competition. World record-holders like her are rare, so soak in every moment of her performances Down Under, not just for her technical skills but also her pure determination and humility.
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