Mourinho at the Gregorian University for the 10th anniversary of Pope Bergoglio

A special appointment to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, with an exceptional guest. This afternoon José Mourinho was the protagonist of the debate organized by the “Alberto Hurtado” Faith and Culture Center of the Pontifical Gregorian University. The Giallorossi coach, together with Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça – Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education – spoke on the theme “Walking towards Lisbon. From the end of the world: 10 years of Pope Francis”. The Special One, who has never hidden his faith, has analyzed the world of sport with the gaze of the “man” Mourinho as well as the globally established coach.

empathy

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“I taught in a school for children with Down syndrome”, thus began the speech of a visibly moved Mourinho. The coach then continued: “I wasn’t prepared because I had neither experience nor training. I was 24 and felt all the responsibility. When I left, the boys and parents and colleagues were sad because I was an ‘exceptional’ professor. What I had to give was love. Nothing more. And I gave it to the children. It was love that made me an ‘exceptional’ professor and did something fantastic for their education”. The Portuguese then focused on the “cruelest” aspect of sport: “Unfortunately, football is a different world from the sport we would like for our children. High performance sport is cruel, there is no room for the weakest and the goal is clear: to win”. A way of thinking that is often fueled by the parents of young athletes, forced from an early age to bear the weight of excessive pressure: “The first to lead their children towards the cruelty of sport are parents with their ambitions – explained Mou – in grassroots sport you learn a lot, you learn more than in your own home.The beauty of training football is the empathy, the solidarity that involves research in the joy of winning but also knowing that when you lose, defeat does not It’s the beginning of a difficult time, but the end of a difficult time.”

Pope francesco

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Instead, there was no doubt when the Portuguese found himself having to explain what was the aspect that most struck him during Bergoglio’s mandate: “I’m even afraid to say it. I don’t want you to think it’s disrespectful. But with Pope Francis I use a footballing expression: he is one of us. I can’t see him just as ‘His Holiness of him’ of him, because to me he is so close, normal, he is one of us the way he talks, everyone understands him perfectly. He is a grandfather ”. Mou also reveals an anecdote about the few free moments he spent in the capital and which, indirectly, concerns the Pontiff: “Many times I walk around St. Peter’s Square and I think he can greet me from the window. I’ve never met him in person but if one day I had to do so I think my reaction would be to want a hug from him”.

fans

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A passage on his relationship with the Romanist people is also almost inevitable. The perfect assist was provided by a Giallorossi fan who wanted to thank Mourinho from the audience for the work done so far: “When you thanked me, I thought that what we have done was the most important thing you understood. From a social point of view, people need a reference, which is not me but the club, in this case our club. This empathy, this sense of belonging, of family, this sense of ‘we win and we are happy, we lose and we are sad but we are together’ is a bit like in families”. And it is precisely the concept of family that the Special One seems to have succeeded in bringing and making it take root within the walls of Trigoria: “If there is something to celebrate we are very happy, if there is something to cry about we do it together. Life is more important than football, our families are more important than football, but Roma have managed to do this for the people in recent years, the people have responded in an absolutely fantastic way. The easiest way to define a great club and be pragmatic and objective is to say ‘it wins a lot, it’s a great club’. No one who understands football can say that it’s not true that Real Madrid are the greatest in history because they are the ones who have won the most. But there are clubs that have never won but are great from a social, emotional point of view and in this sense of belonging that can also exist in a small fourth or fifth division village where the children take the shirt of their village club , who always loses, but it’s theirs. Rome has this beauty, and it’s even more beautiful because we are in a city where local communication divides or tries to divide. And for this reason the Roma fans are even more special”. The coach then concludes by addressing the fans: “You don’t have to thank me, but I thank you for what you have given me in this time”.