On the sports field in the spirit of ‘Fratelli Tutti’

With an exceptional spiritual and social “sponsor” like the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, on Wednesday, 28 February, a “fraternal” soccer match took place between Rinascita Refugees, a team from Puglia made up of migrants from Africa, and a team organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education based on the contents of the “letter on fraternity and social friendship” signed by Pope Francis on 3 October 2020.

On Wednesday morning, 28 February, Pope Francis greeted representatives of the Rinascita organization at his General Audience in the Paul vi Hall. For the past three years, soccer has provided Rinascita an opportunity to welcome and include migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Last November in Rome, the team won the tournament of the inclusive project, “Rete”, dedicated to assisting unaccompanied minors from foreign countries.

The organization wanted to share this experience of inclusion, solidarity and hope with Pope Francis at the General Audience, explains Bishop Fernando Filograna of Nardò-Gallipoli, who, with Fr Antonio Bottazzo, director of the diocesan office for migrant pastoral ministry, has followed the organization’s journey.

The match took place at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, on the field of La Sapienza University at Tor di Quinto. At the request of Rinascita Refugees, the match was played with the team, Fratelli Tutti, which is composed of Vatican employees and priests from the Roman Curia and from the Pontifical Colleges and Universities. The team captain was a beneficiary of Caritas Rome. The coach was Father Miguel Cardoso, an official of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The Centro Sportivo Italiano was in charge of refereeing.

The teams played “with” and not “against” each other, to advocate against racism and poverty, explained the event organizers. As Pope Francis said in view of the match between Fratelli Tutti and the World Rom Organization in November 2021, “it doesn’t matter who scores the most goals, because you score the decisive goal together, the goal that wins hope and gives a kick to exclusion”.

This is precisely the mission Pope Francis entrusted to Athletica Vaticana, the Holy See’s official sports association.

The same spirit of inclusion is embodied by Rinascita Refugees. The soccer team is composed of refugees and asylum seekers who are the beneficiaries of the 13 projects of welcoming and integration managed in Salento by the organization headed by Antonio Palma. “We want to break down barriers, promote socialization” and “talk about the world of immigration also through soccer, combatting the various forms of racism”, affirmed sports director Vincenzo Nobile.

The team includes young people primarily from Senegal and Gambia but also from Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and other African countries. “Different cultures, religions, ethnicities that meet get to know each other and build friendships”, explained Nobile. “Sport, thus, is an attempt to give an inclusive response to the tragedy of their migration journey in search of a better future, far from war, violence, persecution. A future that, through work, can offer support to their relatives who remained in their home country”.

The team was originally established as an amateur team, but it has won nearly every match. Not even the players expected to be so successful in such a short time. Their coach is Hassane Niang Baye, a former soccer player from Senegal and today a cultural mediator.

Coach Hassane was the first person to realize that one of his players had the potential to play at the professional level. It’s the extraordinary story of Moustapha Elhadji Cissé, 20 years old, who arrived from Gambia with no belongings. In 2022 he was spotted by the Atalanta team while playing for Rinascita Refugees. In his debut in the Italian Serie A he scored the winning goal against Bologna. “We are a sporting, but above all, a social, ‘miracle’”, said Nobile. And they couldn’t wait to tell Pope Francis about it “because all of us, even Muslims, perceive his concern for the human events of migrants and his ‘cry’ for justice”.