Vatican City, Nov 25, 2013 / 17:01 pm
Pope Francis met with delegates of the European Olympic committee on Saturday, advising them to reject a consumerist mentality towards sports which can dehumanize athletes.
"When sports come to be considered solely according to economic parameters or the achievement of victory at all costs, one runs the risk of reducing athletes to mere merchandise from which to profit," he said on Nov. 23 in the Vatican's Clementine Hall.
It happens that "athletes enter into a mechanism that overwhelms them (and so) they lose the true meaning of their activities, that joy of play that has attracted them as children and that has led them to make so many sacrifices to become champions," he explained.
The Pope described sports as having a kind of balance or "harmony," but "if excessive pursuit of money and success prevails, this harmony is broken."