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Pope greets Vatican athletes who competed at the Mediterranean Games
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Sports

Pope greets Vatican athletes who competed at the Mediterranean Games

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Pope Leo XIV met four Athletica Vaticana athletes after their participation in the Mediterranean Games in Taranto.
  • The Vatican delegation competed in men’s padel, fencing and cycling but did not win a medal.
  • The athletes presented the pope with a padel racket and a signed cycling jersey, while he encouraged a Vatican taekwondo athlete preparing for a world championship.

Pope Leo XIV greeted four Vatican athletes in St. Peter’s Square after they competed at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, southern Italy.

The Athletica Vaticana delegation included Fabrizio Peloni and Tiziano Lucarelli, who played in the men’s padel tournament; Daniele Fontana, who competed in épée fencing; and Emiliano Morbidelli, who took part in cycling. None won a medal at the Games.

The delegation traveled to Taranto to promote a message of peace and fraternity. During the brief meeting after the pope’s traditional Wednesday general audience, the athletes gave Leo XIV a padel racket and a Vatican cycling-team jersey signed by athletes from the 26 Olympic committees participating in the Mediterranean event across Africa, Asia and Europe.

The pope also encouraged 24-year-old Diego Di Mattia, who accompanied the delegation and is due to compete at the world taekwondo championships in South Korea from Sept. 16 to 21. The Taranto Mediterranean Games were scheduled to conclude on Sept. 3.

About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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