An antidote to war

In an open letter to athletes participating in the Paris Olympic Games, Athletica Vaticana, the Holy See’s official multi-sport association, highlighted the importance of the international sporting event in promoting peace, especially at a time marked by war, and “once again raised Pope Francis’ appeal for an Olympic Truce”.

In Paris, reads the letter, athletes are embodying “the true values of sport: passion, inclusion, fraternity, team spirit, loyalty, redemption, commitment and sacrifice”. The Olympic and Paralympic Games, it states, serve as a reminder that “sport is a journey through life that is never done alone”.

The letter goes on to stress Pope Francis’ belief that “even at the highest level”, it is important “to maintain the ‘amateur’ spirit of gratuitousness, that style of simplicity that puts a hold on the immoderate pursuit of money and success ‘at all costs’, at the risk of overwhelming everything in the name of profit, making people lose the joy that attracts them to sporting passion from an early age”. The letter goes on to affirm that in sports “a clean defeat is always better than a dirty victory”, and that the Olympics and Paralympics “can be strategies for peace and antidotes to war games. To win, together, the medal of fraternity”.