Representatives from several religions gathered to discuss values of faith and sports
PARIS — The square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral was bathed in sunshine Aug. 4 as representatives of the five major religions involved in the Paris Olympic Games met.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus came to talk about their experiences at the multifaith center in the Olympic Village and discuss the values of faith and sports.
The event followed backlash against several scenes at the Games’ opening ceremony from a number of religious leaders across the world.
The interfaith meeting has a long tradition. A similar meeting of faith leaders had taken place at Notre Dame a hundred years earlier, during the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, at the initiative of Pierre de Coubertin, who had relaunched the Olympic Games in the modern era in 1894.
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, and Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, were welcomed by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and the French capital’s Auxiliary Bishop Philippe Marsset, who was delegated by the archdiocese to oversee the Olympic Games and Holy Games initiative. Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne, the Holy See’s special representative for the Olympics, was also there along with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Chief Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia.
Meeting in front of the cathedral — set to open Dec. 8 — under the theme “How does sport mobilize the best in man and humanity,” religious leaders emphasized how sports can be a powerful sphere of positive values and unity for mankind.
“Faith and sport share many of the same values that guide us to live together in peace with our fellow human beings,” the IOC’s Bach said in his remarks.
During the event Bach said that “the Olympic Games are first and foremost about sport. But they are also about much more than sport. They are about: Togetherness. Hope. Solidarity. Peace.”
Bach emphasized Aug. 4 that sports and faith share values and “like faith, sport can guide us on how to lead better, more meaningful lives,” and sports can bring out the best in us to live “in solidarity and peace with our fellow humans.” Nevertheless, “sport is not a religion,” Bach said.
Sport “cannot answer the ultimate questions on the meaning of our existence. Only faith can give answers to the really existential questions of life, death and of the divine.
“Only faith can guide us in our acceptance of divine transcendence,” said Bach, who participated in the Mass in La Madeleine church for the launching of the Olympic truce July 19.
“In our world torn apart by so many wars, hate and aggression, the Olympic Games are the only event that still manages to bring together the entire world in peaceful competition,” Bach said.
François Morinière, a former sports journalist and member of the organizing committee for the interfaith meeting, said that the Paris Olympics are ones where the Catholic Church is the most engaged in years.
“The whole event in front of Notre Dame reflected the atmosphere, the fraternal spirit and the good ambiance of the Olympic Village’s multifaith center,” Morinière said. “It was a nice way to move on after the not-so-happy artistic moments of the opening ceremony, which also had some magnificent scenes.”
