Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church, Bishop of Rome, and Sovereign of the Vatican City State, has said, “world peace is seriously threatened”.
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| Paris 2024 |
He prayed, “may God enlighten the consciences of those in power”, as he hopes “that all will respect the #OlympicTruce, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony”.
Pope Francis prayed: “With world peace seriously threatened, I fervently hope that all will respect the #OlympicTruce, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony. May God enlighten the consciences of those in power. #Paris2024 “
What is Olympic Truce?
According to olympics.com:
The tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, or “Ekecheiria”, was established in Ancient Greece in the ninth century BC through the signing of a treaty between three kings – Iphitos of Elis, Cleosthenes of Pisa and Lycurgus of Sparta – to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, which were otherwise almost constantly engaged in conflict with each other.
Taking into account the new political reality in which sport and the Olympic Games exist, the IOC decided to revive the concept of the Olympic Truce for the Olympic Games in the 1990’s, with a view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly.
