ACI Prensa Staff, July 19, 2024 / 7:47 PM (ACI Africa).

In a message addressed to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, Pope Francis expressed his fervent hope that the upcoming Olympic Games would promote world peace, which he said is “seriously threatened,” and that they would follow the ancient world tradition of calling a truce during the competition.

“In these difficult times, when world peace is seriously threatened, it is my fervent hope that everyone will respect this truce in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony,” the Pope said.

Pope Francis also stressed that the Olympic Games, which begin Friday, July 26, and last until Sunday, August 11, in Paris, can be “an exceptional forum for encounters between peoples, even the most hostile,” and an opportunity “to break down prejudices, to foster esteem where there is contempt and mistrust, and friendship where there is hatred.”

“The Olympic Games, by their very nature, are about peace, not war,” he stressed, noting that “the five intertwined rings represent the spirit of brotherhood that should characterize the Olympic event and sporting competition in general.”

The Holy Father also said he hopes that hosting the Olympic Games “will be a wonderful opportunity for fraternal harmony for all the people of France, allowing us to overcome differences and opposing points of view and strengthen the unity of the nation.”