Pope Francis meets with NBA players to talk inequality, injustice

A court at the HP Field House in Orlando, Fla.,pictured on August 27, includes a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. 

File Photo by John G. Mabanglo/EPA-EFE

Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Players in National Basketball Association met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday to discuss social and economic injustices and inequalities, the players union said.

The National Basketball Players Association said a delegation of five players and three union officials met with the pontiff in the papal library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The meeting was noted on pope's list of audiences Monday.

Those who met with Pope Francis were Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs, Sterling Brown and Kyle Korver of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic and Anthony Tolliver of the Memphis Grizzlies, the union said.

NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts, Foundation Executive Director Sherrie Deans and Chief of International Relations Matteo Zuretti also attended.

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Roberts said the pope sought the meeting and said it "demonstrates the influence of their platforms."

"We are extremely honored to have had this opportunity to come to the Vatican and share our experiences with Pope Francis," Korver said in a statement.

"Today's meeting was an incredible experience," added Anthony Tolliver. "With the Pope's support and blessing, we are excited to head into this next season reinvigorated to keep pushing for change and bringing our communities together."

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After the NBA resumed its season in July after a COVID-19 hiatus, numerous players voiced and showed support for racial equality and protested the police shootings that killed George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.

The league even allowed players to put activist messages on the back of their jerseys, in place of their surnames. Many players did so.

In August, Bucks players even voted not to play a playoff game against the Magic as a show of protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.

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Earlier this month, Brown received a $750,000 civil settlement from the city of Milwaukee after saying several police officers forced him to the ground and used a stun gun on him two years ago during a parking dispute.

NBA players hailed by pope at Vatican for demanding justice
By TIM REYNOLDS November 23, 2020


Pope Francis delivers his blessing during the Angelus noon prayer he recited from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis met with NBA players at the Vatican on Monday, lauding them as “champions” and saying he supported their work on social justice.

The five players — Marco Belinelli, Sterling Brown, Jonathan Isaac, Kyle Korver and Anthony Tolliver — were joined in the delegation by NBA players’ union executive director Michele Roberts and two other union executives, Sherrie Deans and Matteo Zuretti.

“We’re here because, frankly, we’re inspired by the work that you do globally,” Roberts told the pope during the meeting in the papal library.

The union said the players spoke about their “individual and collective efforts addressing social and economic injustice and inequality occurring in their communities.” Belinelli addressed the pope in Italian, and the group presented the pope with a commemorative basketball, a union-produced book highlighting efforts players have taken and an Orlando Magic jersey.

“You’re champions,” the pope said. “But also giving the example of teammork, you’ve become a model, giving that good example of teamwork but always remaining humble ... and preserving your own humanity.”

The audience was held days before a book comes out in which Francis supports demands for racial justice, specifically the actions taken following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in May. A police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee against his neck for minutes while Floyd said he couldn’t breathe.

The cover of Let us Dream, the book, due out Dec. 1, that was ghost-written by Francis’ English-language biographer, Austen Ivereigh. Pope Francis is supporting demands for racial justice in the wake of the U.S. police killing of George Floyd and is blasting COVID-19 skeptics and the media that spread their conspiracies in a new book penned during the Vatican’s coronavirus lockdown. In “Let Us Dream,” Francis also criticizes populist politicians who whip up rallies in ways reminiscent of the 1930s, and the hypocrisy of “rigid” conservative Catholics who support them. (Simon & Schuster via AP)

“I was there to support my colleagues in their daily struggle in the United States, and not just for that,” Belinelli said later Monday on Twitter. “I also went to show that athletes have an active responsibility in society and need to dedicate themselves toward changing things that don’t work. We athletes have a very big media platform and we’ve got to use it positively to reach where institutions are lacking.

“The pope had important words for us: We need to continue to be united, to operate as brothers, like a team, and to set an example for the younger generations,” Belinelli continued. “The key is to remain humble. I will never forget this experience.”

Roberts said Francis sought the meeting with the players, and that it “demonstrates the influence of their platforms.” Demands for social and racial justice have been paramount among players, especially in recent months following the deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among others.

Brown, in his remarks to the pope, told him about what he, Korver and the other Milwaukee Bucks went through in the NBA’s restart bubble — particularly when they decided to sit out a playoff game against Orlando in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

“It was raw and emotional for our team,” Brown told the pope.

Brown sued officials in Milwaukee after getting taken to the ground, shocked with a Taser and arrested during an encounter with police in 2018, contending in that lawsuit that police used excessive force and targeted him because he is Black. A settlement where Brown would receive $750,000 plus an admission from the city that his civil rights were violated was agreed to this month.

“We are extremely honored to have had this opportunity to come to the Vatican and share our experiences with Pope Francis,” Korver said. “His openness and eagerness to discuss these issues was inspiring and a reminder that our work has had a global impact and must continue moving forward.”

The delegation did not wear masks during its papal visit. The union later said the group was required to undergo COVID-19 testing before meeting the pope and followed other Vatican protocols. Last month, the pope halted his public general audiences amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Italy and the Vatican.

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