'Vatican House of Sport' to be blessed and inaugurated

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

The 'Vatican House of Sport' - which will essentially be the operational seat of the Vatican's official multi-sports association, Athletica Vaticana - will be blessed and inaugurated on Wednesday 20 September, at 6.30 p.m., by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

In Pope Francis' recent Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, on the reform of the Roman Curia, the Pope entrusted sport to the aforementioned Dicastery.

With the new 'House' in Palazzo San Calisto, an extraterritorial property of the Holy See physically located in Rome's Trastevere neighbourhood, Athletica Vaticana, made up of some 200 men and women, proposes living sport as an opportunity for encounters, sociality, dialogue, friendship, and fraternity.

The statement announcing the inauguration also notes how important this dynamic is, now more than ever, in a world torn by wars, tensions, divisions, and fears.

The operational headquarters in Trastevere, the statement notes, is to be put at the disposal of the world of sport, as a crossroads of encounters between athletes in their uniqueness, with special attention to the most fragile.

The registered office of Athletica Vaticana is on Via del Pellegrino in Vatican City.