Italian champion Napoli was received on Tuesday (27.05.2025) to the Vatican by Pope the 14th. The president of the “Partenopi” Aurelio de Laurentis, the coach Antonio Conte and the players of the Italian South team – led by Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo – discussed for more than half an hour, for more than half an hour, for football.
Napoli’s team arrived in Rome by train at Termini Station around 11:00 and after about half an hour entered the Vatican. Pope Leo ID ‘met with about sixty people in the club, including players with their families and team employees.
Napoli’s president, Aurelio de Laurentis, gave him a blue Naples jersey signed by players who brought his number 10 and his name to Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”.
“You’re number 10, so you’re a great striker,” De Laurentis said. The Pope responded with a laugh and a simple “thank you”.
Coach Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentis presented as “deeply universal”, knelt and kissed the Pope’s hand before telling him that he had seen him many times on television.
The hearing from the Pope extends, and Napoli loses the train. The team would have to start from the Vatican at 12.30. To the champions the greeting of the Pope’s cook #ANSA https://t.co/fQCSvo13N8 pic.twitter.com/z762wHBbOm
– Ansa agency (@agenzia_ansa) May 27, 2025
“Conquering the championship is a goal that is achieved at the end of a long journey, where what is most important is not once the achievement or the excellent performance of a champion. The championship is won by the team and when I say “team” I mean the players, the coach with the whole team and the club, “said Pope Leo, the 14th addressing Campionato’s holders.
“I am pleased to welcome you now, to emphasize this aspect of your success, which I believe is the most important. And I would say that it is socially we know how popular football is in Italy and around the world, and so, and from this perspective, it seems to me that the social value of an event such as that, which goes beyond the merely technical-athletic event, is the example of a group-in the broad sense-that works together. And there is one last thing I would like to say with this opportunity. This is the educational aspect.
Unfortunately, when sport becomes a business, it is in danger of losing the values that make it educational and can even happen the opposite. This is something we have to look out for, especially when we are dealing with teenagers. I appeal to parents and sports managers: We must pay close attention to the moral quality of the athletic experience at a competitive level, because the human development of young people is at stake. “
About the publications, which want him to have a… preference in Roma, he said: “Welcome. The guy says I’m a Roma fan, but the guy doesn’t always tell the truth. “