Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 99 (Suppl.), December 2005

TESTIMONY

OF Helio Castroneves

Castroneves Racing, LLC, USA 

First of all, I want to thank the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People for giving me this opportunity to speak to you about my life as a Christian in the auto-racing world. I am very happy to be with you this morning together with my family.   

To start with, I must say that I started racing when I was just eleven years old. Of course, that was all in the family. I really loved this sport and I was about to win my first championship. That was also my first experience with God. Certainly I had lots of difficulties in life, but I was more and more convinced that God was behind me.  

Everybody knows about the difficulties in auto-racing. One has to be in the right place at the right time. My mom always said not to question God whatever might be the outcome of the race. Then I went to the USA and had to prove my competence in the sport. In 1996 I won my first championship. My mom opened the Holy Bible and told me to believe, first of all, in the power of the Almighty God.    

I thank Fr. Philip DeRea, our Chaplain in auto-racing, for his wonderful spiritual assistance to all of us. I appreciate very much the concern of the Catholic Church for all of us, especially the interest of this Pontifical Council. Thank you.