Kobe Bryant, a Catholic superstar

Many people may not know the human and the religious side of Kobe Bryant, baptized Catholic, married a Catholic girl and have all his daughters baptized in a Catholic church. They attend church regularly, and some people saw him at an early morning Mass last Sunday, just a few hours before he died tragically with his daughter Gianna and 7 other friends. He grew up in Italy where his father played basketball with various teams, mainly in Reggio Emilia. He spoke perfect Italian and rooted for Milan AC, but his popularity was in Los Angeles, a superstar with the Lakers, with whom he played for 20 long seasons, and won 5 NBA championships, besides two Olympic medals with the US team. Kobe married Vanessa on the 18th of April 2001 at St Edward the Confessor Church in Dana Point, California. When he got in trouble, he sought the help from a priest who helped him through some tough time, but after the accusations were dropped, he worked harder to keep his reputation clean, even founding the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, to help the homeless and the poor youth. They had 4 daughters, Natalia 17, Gianna 13, Blanka 3 and Capri Kobe 6 months old. 

Kobe with wife Vanessa, still pregnant with baby Capri and 3 daughters.

When Kobe retired in 2016,  he wrote the script for a short animated movie “Dear Basketball” which won him an Oscar in 2018.  Many people remember him attending with his family at the Holy Family Cathedral, Orange County, California, even seeing him attend during the week, praying by himself. He may not have been a Catholic superstar, as the title to this post says, but he was a devout Catholic, and undoubtedly one of the greatest superstars in sports history.
Let us pray for Kobe and Gianna, the other victims and for Vanessa and her three living daughters.