Pope Leo XIV on the Value of Sport

In this episode of the Spe Salvi Institute Podcast, founders Robert Mixa and Andrew Petiprin discuss Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic letter "Life in Abundance: On the Value of Sport", released ahead of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. Drawing on John 10:10 (“I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly”), the Pope presents sport as a “school of life” that forms body, relationships, and spirit—teaching resilience, generosity, respect, and joy—while urging the Church to guide athletes amid commercialization and the idol of victory. Robert and Andrew explore how the letter echoes St. Paul’s call to be athletes in the spiritual life: “Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Cor 9:24-27) and “I have finished the race” (2 Tim 4:7). They show how physical sport trains the very habits of spiritual athleticism—discipline, endurance, humility, and hope—while also diving into the experience of “flow” as a foretaste of spiritual joy and sport’s civic value in building community and renewing culture.