Pope Francis met with the dwarf Argentine soccer team in an audience on Wednesday morning, encouraging them to continue with courage and to be themselves.
Pope Francis praised the “courage” of those gathering at the Vatican during a period of “creating new roads.”
“You are courageous; foster this courage and never, ever discard it: the courage to proceed in life as you are. With all of your intellectual, emotional, and physical qualities.”
Then Pope Francis remarked, “In life, there are two perspectives: the positive and the negative. That is to say, there are the regular pessimists who, no matter what happens, always see the negative: “Too bad” And they develop depression. The only thing these individuals accomplish is create terrible horizons.”
“And there are the optimists, such as yourself, who view any challenge from a positive perspective: proceed, make progress” to continue on “as we are now with what I have. “I mean, profit on everything, including what appears unfavorable,” he remarked.
The Holy Father described this as “human maturity” and expressed his delight that these dwarf athletes have chosen this route.
The soccer players informed the Holy Father of all the efforts undertaken to integrate dwarfs into society via sports.
In addition, the players of this National All-Star Team that won the America’s Cup and the European Cup championships presented Pope Francis with a signed jersey, a team schedule with the Virgin of Itat, and a team schedule featuring the Virgin of the Valley of Catamarca.