"If we dream of the Vatican at the Paris 2024 Olympics? Dreams are beautiful, it is always good to dream. But then you have to deal with reality and there are many questions that must be solved practically".
This was told to ANSA by Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca, director of the Culture and Sport Department of the Pontifical Council for Culture, commenting on the recognition of the taekwondo section of Athletica Vaticana by the World Taekwondo.
"This is part of a path that a month ago saw the cycling section be recognized by the UCI (and, previously, Athletica Vaticana by 'World Athletics ed) and we will soon announce other agreements, starting with the padel", he notes Archbishop Sanchez, specifying that, however, there is still a long way to go for the possibility of seeing Vatican athletes at the Olympics. "In the Vatican everything is unique, everything is done with the necessary adjustments - he underlines -. The goal is not to be present at the Games, but to bring Pope Francis' message through sport, that of an inclusive sport, attentive to forms of marginality, exclusion, disability ".
According to the sports manager of the Holy See, "participation in the Olympics requires solving many questions. If one day the birth of a Vatican Olympic Committee comes into being, recognition by the IOC is needed, which is why I say that there are so many steps to take. still".
"This - concludes Sanchez - does not exclude a symbolic presence at some international event, perhaps at the European Games or the Mediterranean Games. But for now we are concentrating on opening new sections within the international sports federations".