The Pope gives his blessing to the torch of Napoli 2019

The Torch of the Universiade Napoli 2019 continues its route. After Assisi, tomorrow, on June 12th, it will be the turn of Vatican City.

At 12:00 pm the Torch will start from Piazza San Pietro for its fifth stop, passing through Via della Conciliazione and Ponte dell’Angelo, reaching in the end the Italian Sports Center for the institutional greetings scheduled at 12:30 pm.

The Torch, symbol of peace, union and brotherhood, will be blessed by the Holy Father at the end of the General Audience in the presence of Vincenzo De Luca (President of Regione Campania), Oleg Matytsin (FISU President)l, Lorenzo Lentini (CUSI President), Gianluca Basile (Extraordinary Commissioner for the Universiade) and Gaetano Manfredi (Rector of the University of Naples Federico II).

For the fifth stop along the route, Camille Chenaux will hand the Torch of the Universiade Napoli 2019 to Pope Francis, waiting for his blessing in Piazza San Pietro. Born in Switzerland, Camille, 28, belongs to “Athletica Vaticana”, the first sports association established in Vatican City. University student, daughter of a professor at Pontificia Università Lateranense, specializes in middle distance. She placed seventh in the 10,000 meters at Italian Championships 2019. Moreover, Chaneux has won numerous competitions even in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. After the Holy Father’s blessing, the Torch will be handed to the other torch-bearers who will start from Piazza San Pietro, passing through Viale della Conciliazione, Ponte Sant’Angelo and reaching the Italian Sports Center.

Fourteen torch-bearers will take turns along the Roman path, running in pair: Davide Tizzano (two-time Olympic rowing champion and member of the Organizing Committee), Massimiliano Rosolino (gold medalist at Sydney 2000 and ambassador of Napoli 2019), Valerio Grazini (gold medalist in shooting at the Universiade Gwangju 2015), Giancarlo Tazza (gold medalist in shooting at the Universiade Shenzen 2011), Lorenzo Porzio (Olympic bronze medalist in rowing), Dariya Derkach (European athletics U23 champion), Giovanna Giacobbo (volleyball player of the Italian national team), and seven students from Università La Sapienza, LUMSA, Campus Bio-Medico and Pontificia Università Lateranense.

The Roman stop will end with a meeting at the CONI headquarters, at 3:00 pm, with President Giovanni Malagò.