Pope offers Mozambican youth two models of perseverance: Eusébio and Mutola, who never gave up fighting for their dreams – Watch

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Pope offers Mozambican youth two models of perseverance: Eusébio and Mutola, who never gave up fighting for their dreams – Watch

3:20 CAT | 09 Sep 2019

Image: Vatican News

Well-known sports lover Jorge Mario Bergoglio indicated Mozambique’s greatest sports icons, Eusébio da Silva and Maria Mutola, as an inspiration to young people not to give up fighting for their dreams.

“I know most of you are enthused about football. I remember a great player from these lands who learned not to give up: Eusébio da Silva, the Black Panther. He began his athletic career in this city. The severe economic hardships of his family and the premature death of his father did not prevent him from dreaming; his passion for football made him persevere, keep dreaming and moving forward. He managed to score seventy-seven goals for Maxaquene! Despite having plenty of reasons to give up … ,” Pope Francis said.

The Holy Father continued: “His dream and his desire to play kept him going, but equally important was finding someone to play with. You know that in a team not everyone is the same; they don’t all do the same things or think the same way. Each player has his own gifts. We can see and appreciate this even in this meeting of ours. We come from different traditions and we may even speak different languages, but this has not stopped us from being here together as a group.”

The Argentine Pontiff told the thousands of young people filling the Maxaquene Stadium in Maputo that the way to strive for Mozambique is to “always stay together despite everything that can divide you, always look for a chance to realise your dreams for a better country. But always together. It is essential never to forget that social enmity… is destructive. Families are destroyed by enmity. Countries are destroyed by enmity. The world is destroyed by enmity. And the greatest enmity of all is war. ”

Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave another example of a Mozambican woman who did not give up fighting for her dreams, “you have before your eyes that beautiful testimony given by Maria Mutola, who learned to persevere, to keep trying, even though she did not attain the goal of a gold medal in her first three Olympic Games. Then, on her fourth attempt, this 800-metre athlete won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.”

“Her efforts did not make her self-absorbed; her nine world titles did not let her forget her people, her roots: she continued to look out for the needy children of Mozambique. We see how sport teaches us to persevere in our dreams!” Pope Francis said.

The Pope reminded everyone of the proverb “If you want to get somewhere in a hurry, walk alone; if you want to go far, walk with others.”

And he called on the hundreds of young Mozambicans in the Maxaquene sports pavillion: “Dream together, as you are doing today. Dream with others, never against others. Keep dreaming the way you dreamed and prepared for this meeting: all together and without barriers. This is part of Mozambique’s ‘new page in history’.”

By Adérito Caldeira

Eusébio Da Silva

Eusébio, also known as “the Black Panther”, is considered one of the top ten best football players of the 20th Century.

Born into a poor family in Maputo, he lost his father when he was young, but never gave up on his dream to become a footballer.

Over the 15 seasons he played for the Portuguese Club, Benfica, he scored a record 473 goals, which won him the coveted Ballon d’Or. Eusébio was 71 years of age when he died in 2014, but he remains a legend in Mozambique on account of his down-to-earth sense of team spirit and fair play.

Maria Mutola

Maria de Lurdes was the first athlete from Mozambique to win an Olympic gold medal, in Sydney, in the year 2000.

Over her long career, Maria went on to win another 20 gold medals, and was the World Champion in the 800-meters.

After 20 years as an athlete, Maria created a foundation in Mozambique that helps young people build a future for themselves.

The “Fundação Lurdes Mutola” also assists people with disabilities, and victims of the 500,000 anti-personnel mines scattered throughout Mozambique during the struggle for independence and civil war.