With world peace under serious threat, Pope Francis called on all nations to observe the Olympic truce and cease all conflicts for the traditional period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Paris. Source: CNS.
May God help “enlighten the consciences of those in power to the grave responsibilities incumbent upon them, may he grant peacemakers success in their endeavours”, the Pope said in a written message to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris.
The Vatican published the letter on Friday ahead of the opening of the Summer Games on July 26 and the customary start of the Olympic truce observance.
Archbishop Ulrich marked the official start of the truce on Friday with a Mass at the Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Paris
The Olympic truce tradition, originating in Greece in the 8th-century BC, asked that all wars and conflict be suspended during the games and seven days before and after the games as a way to make sure participants could travel to and from the venue safely.
The International Olympic Committee revived the tradition in 1992 and it works with the United Nations to pass a symbolic UN resolution before each Games, inviting UN member states to observe a truce to encourage the Olympic spirit of peace.
In his letter, the Pope said the Olympic Games can be “an exceptional meeting place between peoples, even the most hostile. The five interlinked rings represent the spirit of fraternity that should characterise the Olympic event and sporting competition in general”.
“I therefore hope that the Paris Olympics will be an unmissable opportunity for all those who come from around the world to discover and appreciate each other, to break down prejudices, to foster esteem where there is contempt and mistrust, and friendship where there is hatred.
“The Olympic Games are, by their very nature, about peace, not war,” he wrote.
“It was in this spirit that antiquity wisely instituted a truce during the Games, and that modern times regularly attempt to revive this happy tradition,” the Pope wrote.
“In these troubled times, when world peace is under serious threat, it is my fervent wish that everyone will take this truce to heart, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony,” he wrote.
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Pope calls for Olympic truce, cessation of conflict among nations (By Carol Glatz, CNS)
