Making of the video "JOANNES PAULUS II TALKS TO SPORT".

On September 24th, 2003 a FICTS delegation, led by FICTS President, Italian Prof. Franco Ascani, and by the Polish treasurer Krzysztof Marszalik, was received at the Vatican. At the end of the meeting, His Holiness the Pope Johannes Paulus II was awarded the "Guirlande d'Honneur", FICTS most important honour, for His (then) twenty-five years of Pontificate and for His "significant and profitable action in favour of the affirmation of
ethical and formative values of sport".

With the support of Vatican State Secretary, Card. Angelo Sodano, and the
Director of Vatican Television Centre Father Federico Lombardi, as well as
the directors Mario Farneti and Massimo Lavena, a very unusual and
original idea was launched: the realization of the video "Joannes Paulus II talks to Sport".
The video was an unreleased collection of pictures and footages, depicting
the Pope's past sport life, as well as His speeches to sport people and
sport world, His prayers and blessing to sport delegations (including the
blessing of the ball used for Italia 1990 Footabll World Games), the
meetings with Champions and His thoughts about the role of Sport in modern
society, expressed through the first 25 years of His Pontificate.

The video premiered on October 29th, 2003 for the Opening Ceremony of
"Sport Movies & TV" and will be re-edited with new footages for the 2005 edition.
See the pic of the Pope playing football in His early years.