Chess once banned by Catholic church

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – As the World Chess Championship is underway in Kazakhstan, the Catholic Herald publishes a long view of how the game has been variously banned and praised within Catholicism.

Karl Gustel Wärnberg tells the story of how, in 1125,  Bishop Guy of Paris banned chess in his diocese and excommunicated some priests who were caught playing the game, which was considered frivolous and relied on luck.

In 1420, all that changed when it was regarded as being based on skill. The article quotes the German philosopher Thomist Josef Pieper, who suggests that leisure is an end in itself where we rest in God.