The calendar year 2026 has already seen several professional sports teams crowned champions on North American soil. In January, the Seattle Seahawks won their second National Football League Super Bowl title. In June, the New York Knicks broke a 53-year drought, winning their third National Basketball League championship. Within a week, the Carolina Hurricanes were victorious in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 2006. In the last week, we saw Spain defeat Argentina in the final of the FIFA World Cup of soccer, which was played in North America for the first time. All of these champions had interesting Catholic Christian overtones.
*When Spain and Argentina were determined the finalists for this year’s World Cup, we knew it was going to be a battle between 2 majority Catholic countries with a connected history. In fact, these countries are 2 of only 8 all-time World Cup champions, and 4 of the other 6 are also majority Catholic: France, Brazil, Uruguay and Italy. These 6 countries have won a combined 17 out of 23 cups. More history shows that Jules Rimet, whose vision it was to start this competition, was also a devout Catholic.
Back to the combatants. Spain sent Catholic missionaries to bring the faith to the Americas, including Argentina. Of course, out of Argentina came the first South American Pope, Pope Francis. Several of the winning Spanish team speak boldly about their Catholic faith. Coach Luis de la Fuente, during interviews with the media, has made it clear how much prayer means in his life. He doesn’t pray for victories but more out of gratitude. He believes his faith gives him strength and confidence and helps form his character. “Many people approach me in the street and thank me for my testimony of faith. Both my experience and my intelligence invite me to believe in God.”
Ferran Torres scored the winning goal in Spain’s 1-0 final victory. He is known for always having a cross and image of the Virgin Mary. “I thank God he always gives me the strength to keep going”. [The Catholic Leader] Lautaro Martinez keeps an image of Our Lady of Luján in his shin guards. Mikel Marino said to the camera, “Long live St. Firminus” after Spain beat Portugal. Ironically, FIFA frowns upon religious displays during games. Still, the Spanish players managed to get the message of faith across anyway.
*Several players on the Carolina Hurricanes provided demonstrations of faith like never seen in NHL playoffs before. Captain and finals MVP Jordan Staal, along with defensemen Jacob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, especially spoke about their Christian faith at the Stanley Cup victory celebration, as they did all season. Staal said, “I live for God and hockey is something that I give God the glory for.” Two takeaways from this statement are how much humility he has in success and also the idea that he brings God with him at all times. As Catholics, we must do our best to maintain a presence of God all day long, in all our activities. Slavin, for his part, stated that “Christ died for me so I play for him”.
The faith connection with the New York Knicks was more superficial; however, many fans and media were drawing connections between Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, who all went to the Augustinian Catholic University Villanova, the same school that Pope Leo attended. Pope Leo’s recognized the connection and appeared to give the Knicks a special blessing. This had some observers commenting that “The Nova Knicks are a sign from above”.
When the Seattle Seahawks won the title against all preseason odds, they had as one of their leaders big offensive tackle Abraham Lucas. He describes himself as a “hardcore Catholic” who views his faith in Jesus Christ and his relationship with God as his primary purposes in life. Besides Sunday Mass, he attempts to attend daily Mass as often as possible, as well as going to weekly confession.
He feels very strongly about going to confession before receiving the Holy Eucharist; this is something all Catholics should consider. “My whole life is a ministry and football is what I am called to do right now.” He pleads with young people to not lose focus during the teen and university years by continuing to go to Mass and receive the sacraments.
Teammates often witness his devotion to the Rosary. While he loves football, the game is first and foremost a way to glorify God. He has stated that if he had to choose between God and football, he would definitely choose Our Lord. He believes that this is not a difficult decision really. This is such a refreshing attitude when we so often see cases of pro athletes who will sacrifice everything for fame, including their faith. Lucas practices the spiritual exercises of St. Louis de Montfort’s “Total consecration of Jesus through Mary.” His parents were his biggest influence through their reading of the bible and the lives of the Saints to him when young and through family rosary.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider is also a devout Catholic who has helped impact the team Catholic community, including providing a pregame vigil Mass on Saturdays. At the Super Bowl parade, he handed out Jesus figurines to the crowd. Team Chaplain Mark McGregor said that up to 15 players plus family attend team Mass, and while he tries to build his homily around the gospel, before the Super Bowl the gospel and his message had to do with “Elevate and Advance”. We must all elevate all of those around us, and we must complete the mission we have been given. These are goals that we should all live by in our daily family, work and play relationships, helping to bring those around us closer to Jesus.
