The pastoral visit of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to the Republic of San Marino marks a moment of particular significance in the country’s history, following in the footsteps of previous visits by Saint John Paul II on 29 August 1982 and Benedict XVI on 19 June 2011.
The occasion carried great weight for the entire Sammarinese community, with significant space also dedicated to sport and the national Olympic movement, underlining the role that sporting activity plays in the social life and identity of the Republic.
Within this context, the President of the San Marino National Olympic Committee, Christian Forcellini, accompanied by Alessandro Alciato, had the honour of meeting the Holy Father and presenting him, on behalf of San Marino’s Olympic and sporting movement, with the official San Marino Team kit for the 2026 Mediterranean Games in Taranto.
The kit, personalised with Pope Leo XIV’s name and autographed on the back by the athletes of the Sammarinese delegation, symbolically represents the identity and values of sport on the Titan.
Making the moment even more meaningful was the presence, immediately behind the President during the presentation, of around fifty representatives of the Sammarinese sporting movement, who were able to witness the encounter from the front row and experience firsthand a moment destined to remain etched in the memory of sport in the Republic.
During the meeting, the Holy Father showed particular interest in San Marino’s sporting reality, asking about the composition of the delegation and the disciplines in which San Marino will compete at the Mediterranean Games.
Forcellini thus had the opportunity to describe a Republic of around 35,000 inhabitants that managed to win three medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games with a delegation of just five athletes, and where roughly 10,000 people hold sporting memberships — figures that testify to how central sport is to Sammarinese society.
The presentation of the kit to the Holy Father therefore took on a meaning that went beyond mere symbolism: the athletes’ signatures represent the commitment, sacrifices and aspirations of an entire sporting movement and of a country that finds in sport one of its most important tools for participation, education and international representation.
It was a moment experienced on behalf of athletes, federations, officials, coaches, volunteers and all those who, day after day, help sport live and grow in the Republic of San Marino.
