Keywords

• The relationship between Church and sport is less unusual than it might seem. This essay reconstructs the story of the encounter between sport and the Catholic world and
• in particular
• highlights the role played by the Church
• which early on grasped sportsâ€
• ™
• potential as a means rather than an end. Catholic sport was born around the middle of the nineteenth century as an activity developed by church youth centres. At the beginning
• sport was merely considered a form of entertainment useful to keep young people from spending their leisure time in a variety of «improper» ways. Soon
• however
• starting from the pontificate of Leo XIII
• it acquired strategic value under the project of the Christian re-conquest of society
• eventually
• during the Fascist period
• it became a tool to claim a hegemonic role for the Church in the education of youth