On Monday 6 June, at the Casa Milan press room, the book ‘Laudato si’, Sport!’ by Daniele Pasquini, President of the Fondazione Giovanni Paolo II per lo Sport, was presented. A book that encapsulates the challenges of today’s sporting world and offers many food for thought from which to guide the ‘change of epoch’ underway.
The book aims to look at the complex phenomenon of sport through the lens of Laudato sì’, Pope Francis’ encyclical, and offer a compass to guide us in the near future.
“There is no ecology without an adequate anthropology”, writes the Pope, and there can be no adequate anthropology without sport. It is an experience that can make all the dimensions of the person vibrate in depth: body, soul and spirit.
The meeting held at Casa Milan developed through a dialogue between the protagonists present, who focused on three main concepts – sport, inclusion and alliance – highlighting the need to build a collaborative society made up of citizens who actively participate in common development commitments.
Among these commitments is sport, and in particular grassroots sport, which through a new proposal must “rekindle the passion, motivation and dreams” that have been extinguished due to the pandemic.
The Fondazione Milan has always been committed to responding to the provocations in the book, in fact, through its programmes, it creates value starting from the most fragile and offers them the chance to believe in their dreams, on a par with their peers, through the practice of inclusive sport.
At the same time, the Sport for Inclusion Network was born, a real community, of which the Milan Foundation is the promoter, which connects different realities and proposes training and comparison moments on the topic of sport and inclusion at 360°.
Rocco Giorgianni, Secretary General of the Fondazione Milan and spokesperson for the Sport for Inclusion Network, opened the meeting by inviting the associations present to reflect on a number of aspects: “Rethinking organisational and training models, including those of associations, is now clearly a necessity, which fatally clashes with the ‘we have always done it this way’. We are therefore faced with a challenge, which is also a great opportunity: that of making the sports world evolve’.
Many guests took part in the dialogue moderated by Katia Arrighi, National Councillor of the Italian Paralympic Committee: Andrea Abodi, President of the Istituto per il Credito Sportivo, Marco Riva, President CONI Lombardia, Massimo Achini, President CSI Milan, Don Gionatan De Marco, Director of the National Office for the Pastoral of Tourism, Sport and Leisure of the CEI, Marco Rasconi, Coordinator of the Commission for Services to the Person of the Cariplo Foundation and Pierangelo Santelli, President CIP Lombardy Region.
