This morning the Holy Father received in audience the Pro Recco Waterpolo 1913 Team, to whom he  addressed the following impromptu greeting:

Greeting of the Holy Father

I welcome you and thank you for this visit! Thank you very much!

Your sport, water polo, is not easy, but it is interesting, it takes discipline to keep going. I repeat myself when I talk to people about sport. I say two things.

Teamwork is the first thing. In sport the biggest defeat of a sportsman is to work and to play alone; as we say in Argentina: "morfarse la pelota", to keep the ball to oneself. It means “to eat the ball". This is not good. This destroys. Always play as a team.

And the second thing: never lose the amateur dimension that is the “mystique” of sport. That little bit of amateur spirit that must always be there. Don't lose it, because that's where the mystique comes from. These are the two things I always say: teamwork and the amateur dimension.

And onwards, keep going! Thank you for visiting. I like meeting with you. I will give a blessing to all of you, asking God to accompany you, bless you and carry you forward in your lives.

[Blessing]

And thank you! Thank you very much!