Pope Francis hosted a few of the NBA players to discuss about social issues and the justice they can bring to these issues in a private meeting. Anthony Tolliver, Kyle Korver, Sterling Brown, Jonathan Isaac and Marco Belinelli were the 5 players who met the Pope. NBA executive director Michele Roberts was also present for the meeting in Vatican.
According to ESPN, An assistant to Pope Francis reached out to the players’ association last week demonstrating the Pope wanted to learn more about how players had recently brought attention to the ongoing social issues.
#PopeFrancis met today with reps of the NBA Players Association to talk about their efforts to promote racial equality, social justice & to feed the poor. (📷 Vatican Media) pic.twitter.com/fGhoMJzQPl
— Cindy Wooden (@Cindy_Wooden) November 23, 2020
“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,” mentioned Roberts, speaking about the meeting.
Social issues like racism, police brutality have been highlighted ever since the passing of George Floyd. During the playoffs, a number of NBA players had a social messages like “Say Their Names,” “Equality” , “Enough” and “Black Lives Matter” written on the back of their jerseys.
