(ANSAmed) - ROME, NOV 17 - Three migrants hosted by the Sant'Egidio Community will be part of the Pope's soccer team 'All Brothers' that will play a team representing the Zagreb-based World Roma Organization in a charity match Sunday (November 21).
The symbolic event is aimed at fighting discrimination, racism, marginalization.
The pope on Saturday
will meet the two teams.
ROME - More than a friendly match the soccer game to be played
Sunday (November 21), thanks to an initiative promoted by Pope
Francis, has been described as "fraternal". It surely represents
a highly symbolic event in the fight against any type of
discrimination, racism and marginalization. The pope's 'All
Brothers' team will play "in fraternity" against the
Zagreb-based club of the World Roma Organization. On Saturday
morning, the pontiff will meet members of the two teams during a
hearing.
At the presentation of the initiative on Tuesday (November 16)
organizers showed a yellow and white jersey of the 'All
Brothers' squad with the number 1 and the name Francis, which
will be donated to the pope. The match, organized by the
Pontifical Council for Culture, will take place at 14:30 Sunday
at the Serie A team Lazio's Training Center in Formello, near
Rome. Lazio supports the initiative. Indeed at the Serie A game
between Lazio and Juventus at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on Saturday
night, all players will sign two balls that will be auctioned to
finance a project linked to the friendly match. The project -
called "Un calcio all'esclusione", a kick against exclusion - is
organized by the Diocese of Rome to support the inclusion of
Roma families and youths in sports, education, housing and the
labor market.
Swiss guards, priests and migrants in pope's team
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican 'minister' of culture,
highlighted the cultural and ethical value of sport. A value
that the pope's team interprets not as a "national" one, or as
representing the Vatican, but embodied by a team including Swiss
guards, Vatican employees, the children of employees, priests,
three migrants hosted by the Sant'Egidio Community, and a boy
with Down syndrome of the Special Olympics. Coaches will include
former champions like Marco Tardelli and Odoacre Chierico
(Lazio's coach Maurizio Sarri will instead be sitting on the
bench of the Roma team) while the referee will be Lazio's
captain Ciro Immobile. "The linesmen will also be two of my
teammates, but I haven't decided yet - I don't know who to
trust", joked Immobile. "I thank Pope Francis for this
opportunity", he also said. "He chose me among many and this is
reason for great satisfaction. It is also beautiful to set the
example for youths. As far as we at Lazio are concerned, the
club guides us regarding the human aspect: we are players from
around the world and we are all brothers".
Lazio: 'initiative against discrimination, Roma vilified ethnic
group'
While representatives of the World Roma Organization, who were
attending remotely from Zagreb with apostolic nuncio, Mons.
Giorgio Lingua, spoke about an "historic match" and described
organizers and participants as "our ambassadors", "our angels",
Lazio president Claudio Lotito said he strongly believes in the
importance of the initiative to "overcome social, economic and
racial barriers". "We live in a society of barriers that must be
replaced by dialogue and integration", he said. Lotito added
that soccer can teach youths to "respect human dignity and equal
dignity for all, as well as raise more awareness in the public
opinion on these themes". According to Lotito, "the pandemic has
also aggravated processes of discrimination, also towards Roma
people, a vilified and discriminated ethnic group. But everyone
needs to have the same dignity and the same opportunities". The
match, he said, sends a message of hope to help "people to
overcome a situation of difficulty they did not want".
(From left to right SS Lazio President, Claudio Lotito, Cardinal
Gianfranco Ravasi, SS Lazio player, Ciro Immobile, and Former
Italian soccer player Marco Tardelli show to photographers the
jersey of the ''Squadra del Papa-Fratelli tutti'' (Pope' soccer
team-All Brothers) which will be donated to Pope Francis as they
present the soccer match between the Vatican soccer team and the
World Roma Organization team, at the Vatican, 16 November 2021.
ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI) (ANSAmed).
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