“Giving the best of yourself” at the Olympic Games and in Belgium

“Giving the best of yourself” is a document addressed in particular to persons and organizations striving to defend the values present in the sports experience.  It aims to be a document that speaks to all those who love and promote sport,  whether they be athletes, teachers, coaches, parents, persons for whom sport is a profession and a vocation.  It was to present this document – the first by the Holy See on sport– that, on the invitation of the IOC, Santiago Pérez de Camino, Head of the Dicastery Church and Sport Office,  participated in the 1^st Edition of the  Forum on  “Olimpism in Action” organized by the International Olympic Committee on the occasion of the III Edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games, which took place on 5^th and 6^th October 2018 in  Buenos Aires.

He explained to those present the genesis of the document, the purpose and reasons which drove the Office of the Holy See to write about the sports world. He then illustrated the contents of the various chapters.  In particular, he highlighted the role of the church in fostering human dignity and Christian values in the world of sports, also widely present in the Olympic Charter. The presentation was the opportunity to confirm the pastoral attention paid by the Church to young athletes during the Games.

During the Forum, Pérez de Camino had several meetings with members of the International Olympic committee, international sporting associations and the Church in Argentina on sport pastoral ministry and how to achieve the aims of the document at local level.

Subsequently, invited by KU Leuven, the Catholic University of Leuven, our officer gave a report to a convention organized by the Faculty of Theology on 11^th  October, on  “Religion, Sport and Ethics” attended, among others, by students and professors from Universities in Europe, America and Asia, and by representatives of other Christian denominations.