mo4ch:>Pope & glory: Vatican City launches official track team for international competition | Mo4ch News

The Vatican announced the launch of its first-ever official track athletics team as it bids to eventually compete in international competition.The Holy See has regularly used sport as a way to spread the message of peace and solidarity, and has put together a team of around 60 runners from the working population of Vatican City.The team, which features athletes with daily jobs of priests, nuns, Swiss Guards and pharmacists, even includes a 62-year-old professor from the Vatican Apostolic Library.The team has been accepted as part of the Italian track association and hopes to gain membership of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).The goal is for the Vatican to eventually compete in international competition, including the Mediterranean Games and the Small States of Europe, a competition that permits entries from states with populations of fewer than 1 million people.And the head of the Vatican culture ministry's sports department - and team president - Mon…