On Wednesday 28 January, the Dicastery for Culture and Education (Rome) welcomed a visit from the leadership of FADU (Federazione Accademica dello Sport Universitario), the Academic Federation of University Sport, represented by its president, Diogo Braz, a sports psychology student at the University of Coimbra, and its administrator, Pedro Longo, a finance student at ISCAL in Lisbon. FADU is a federation representing about 450,000 Portuguese university students, 10,000 of whom are student-athletes, spread across 113 clubs and 35 sporting disciplines. One of the federation’s missions is to promote sport in universities, organise inter-university championships and represent Portugal in international university sports championships.

In the dialogue with Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, topics of the discussion were the importance and challenges facing university sport today, recognising that it undoubtedly represents an added value for academic performance itself. Among these challenges are the need for greater attention to athletes’ mental health and the availability of facilities, thus reconciling the ‘classroom’ with the ‘playing field’.

The highlight of this visit was attending the Holy Father’s General Audience, during which representatives of the federation personally presented him with a customised FADU jersey. Recalling the Pope’s words during the Jubilee of Sport on 15 June 2025, he emphasised the importance of sport as a counterbalance to the aggressive digitalisation of society, stating: «In an increasingly digital society – where technology, whilst bringing distant people closer, often pushes those nearby further away – sport enhances the tangible experience of being together, the sense of the body, of space, of effort, and of real time».