Pope Francis hailed the unifying power of sport on Sunday ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and repeated his call for a worldwide truce during the event.
“Sport has a great social strength, capable of peacefully uniting people of different cultures,” he told pilgrims in St Peter’s Square after his weekly Angelus prayer, ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday in Paris.
“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world that we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, be messengers of peace and effective models for young people in particular,” the 87-year-old said.
“According to ancient tradition, the Olympics are an occasion to establish a truce in wars, demonstrating a sincere desire for peace.”
The Olympic Games run from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8.
The seven-year odyssey of the Paris Olympics should reach shore after a spectacular but hopefully serene opening cruise down the Seine on Friday at the end of a voyage that has survived rocky political moments.
Following the horse-trading to win the Games came the French infighting over how to host them.
Paris was not sure it wanted to risk another rebuff after losing its 2005 bid for the 2012 Games to a London bid that the French believed inferior.
After the 2015 terror attacks on the French capital, Anne Hidalgo, elected Paris mayor in 2014, decided the city needed to act to rebound from the trauma.
Just after his election as president in 2017, Emmanuel Macron promoted France’s case to the International Olympic Committee.
Since 2005, France had built a national velodrome and a canoe-kayak venue near Paris.
“By missing the Games, we built all the facilities,” said a former elected official.
After Los Angeles agreed to go for the 2028 Games, France was awarded the 2024 Games in September 2017.
France would host a “sober” Games, using existing facilities and temporary arenas in postcard Paris: the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides, Place de la Concorde. After testing the water with a cautious toe, it added politically-charged swimming in the Seine.
Hidalgo, a Socialist, dredged up an old and unfulfilled promise by Gaullist Jacques Chirac, when he was mayor, that Parisians would be able to swim in their river.
On July 17, ten days before the Games, Hidalgo took a dip in front of a battery of cameras.
Behind the scenes, the waters were sometimes murky as the national government, local elected officials, and the organizing committee (COJO) bickered.
“Deep down, we are pains in the ass,” said one former local elected official to describe the relationship with COJO.
Paris organizers have made much of the planned legacy. A major beneficiary was to be the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, to the north of Paris, home of the main stadium and the Olympic village.
But the high price of tickets and elevated security mean the residents have difficulty feeling included in the mega-sports festival on their doorstep.
COJO has suffered a few bumps along the way. It was raided on suspicion of a conflict of interest, in particular in awarding “consulting contracts.”
There was a race to complete all the work, with finishing touches still being applied days before the start.
Nicolas Ferrand, in charge of the construction of the athletes’ village, said he was in a “cold sweat” after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, fearing shortages of materials.
Whatever happens, “two weeks before everyone will say that ‘it’s a disaster’ and in fact it’s not,” said a close friend of mayor Hidalgo.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Pope hails unifying power of sport ahead of Olympics”
