Ski Instructors kick start season at the Vatican

In Italy the Winter season officially begins the last weekend of November and on Monday Italy’s Ski Instructors gathered at the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict ahead of the start of their working activities. The Holy Father spoke to them of sport as a means that contributes to the harmonious and moral development of the person. He said : “Your commitment as Ski instructors helps to stimulate some capabilities, such as consistency in pursuing goals, respect for rules, and tenacity in overcoming difficulties”.

When practised with passion and ethics, he continued sport becomes “a school for learning and developing human and Christian values”. “It teaches us to harmonize important dimensions of the human person, favouring an integral development. Through sports, the person better understands that his or her body can not be considered an object. That through the body, the person expresses his or herself and enters into relationships with others. Thus, the balance between the physical and the spiritual leads to respect for the body, and not its idolization or exploitation as an instrument to be strengthened at all costs, maybe even by using unlawful means”.

The fact that skiing is practiced immersed in a mountain environment, led Pope Benedict to reflect on the bond between sport and creation: He said “I think of the many times, climbing up a mountain and then skiing down, or practicing cross country skiing, views open up before you, and in a spontaneous way, elevate the spirit and invite you to raise not only your external gaze but also that of the heart. In contemplating creation, man recognizes the greatness of God, the ultimate source of his being and the universe”

He warned that man is the guardian of the world and that although “progress in science and technology gives humans the opportunity to intervene and manipulate nature”, “the risk, always present, is to want to replace the Creator and reduce the created to a product to use and consume”.

Instead he concluded “the right attitude” is “one of a deep sense of gratitude, appreciation and of responsibility in preserving and nurturing the work of God”. “Sport helps to achieve these objectives by affecting lifestyles, oriented towards balance, self-discipline and respect”.