As Olympic truce is launched, 'Olympic' bishop says he wants to help athletes meet Christ

PARIS (OSV News) -- As Paris stands in the starting blocks for the 2024 Olympic Games that kick off July 26, the Olympic truce was launched in the iconic La Madeleine church in the heart of the French capital July 19.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne, special representative of the Holy See for the 2024 Paris Olympics, celebrated a solemn Mass in the presence of over a hundred diplomatic delegations.

"Blessed is the wisdom that also presides over the Olympic spirit and dwells in our hearts as we turn to the Lord to give thanks and implore him on behalf of our world," Archbishop Ulrich said in his homily.

Pope Francis said July 21 during his Angelus prayer that sport "has a great social power, and it can peacefully unite people from different cultures."

The pope added he hoped that athletes "may be messengers of peace and authentic models for young people," and in particular he hoped that the "Olympic Games be an occasion to call for a cease-fire in wars, demonstrating a sincere desire for peace."

According to the International Olympic Committee, the tradition of the Olympic truce, or Ekecheiria in Greek, was established in ancient Greece in the ninth century B.C. 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.

It was Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games, and his friend, Dominican Father Henri "Martin" Didon, who reinitiated the idea in modern times in 1896.

In the 1990s, the concept was revived "to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly," according to the IOC, and is since supported by the United Nations.

In Paris, the Olympic truce 2024 was officially launched in La Madeleine church with 700 people present -- among them Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, and Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris.

Archbishop Ulrich stressed during his homily that unfortunately "ongoing wars do not cease during the Games, but the desire for peace spreads through the encounters they make possible in these sporting events."

Isabelle Boüan designed and produced the chasubles for the celebrants of the July 19 Mass and the Masses being celebrated throughout the Olympic Games, creating a special chasuble logo for the occasion. It shows a circle containing five doves in the colors of the Olympic rings, facing outward, each carrying an olive branch in its beak, as if leaving to carry it far away, as a sign of peace.

"It was really peace that was at the heart of the prayer at this Mass," Boüan explained to OSV News. "So I thought doves were the perfect motif for these chasubles. They evoke peace in a clear way for all, believers and nonbelievers alike."

"But this circle of doves is embroidered on a band of golden crosses," Boüan added. "For us Christians, the source of peace is Christ, who died on the cross and rose again. It is from him that the peace we are trying to transmit can come."

"This spirit, which comes from on high, guides our actions in these days that we are about to experience, and we pray that it will inspire so many people who will attend these Games, whether they be organizers, competitors or spectators," Archbishop Ulrich stressed.

At the end of the Mass, after the Olympic anthem was played on the historic organs, the celebrants made their way to the forecourt where the archbishop of Paris, the mayor of the city and the president of the IOC released five doves to applause.

The church of St. Mary Magdalene, whose feast is celebrated July 22, is known around the world as La Madeleine and is one of the main classics on the spiritual and tourist routes of the French capital, recognizable for its neoclassical style, reminiscent of Greek and Roman antiquity. For the Olympic Games it also became headquarters of the Holy Games project, launched by the Catholic Church. One of the church's chapels has been dedicated to the athletes as a spiritual center for the Games.

The Holy Games responded to an IOC request for a chaplaincy in the Olympic Village, which will welcome over 10,000 athletes July 26-Aug. 11. A vast 4,300-square-foot structure has been designed north of Paris to accommodate representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faiths. Some 40 specially trained Catholic chaplains, who love sport, will take turns being on duty for the duration of the Olympic Games.

The Games are going to be busy for Bishop Gobilliard, who is the Vatican's representative for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Coming from the Diocese of Digne in southern France, not far from the Italian border, he is a fan of sports and a keen sportsman himself.

"I think the idea of appointing me for the Olympics goes back to October 2018, when I took part in the synod for youth in Rome," he told OSV News, referring to the Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.

"I had organized a soccer tournament between young people and bishops. They certainly understood, at the Vatican, that I loved sport," he said.

Bishop Gobilliard said sport is his passion, a source of personal equilibrium, and an opportunity to meet people, also those far from the church. "Almost everyone is interested in sport. It is a great way to reach people," he said.

Since childhood, he has played soccer, tennis and rugby, has skied and done karate, judo and skydiving and is a member of the Variétés Club de France, a soccer club of former famous players and media personalities.

This summer he will reside in the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis.

"The heart of my mission will be at the multiconfessional center of the Olympic Village," Bishop Gobilliard told OSV News. "There is always a chaplaincy among the official facilities during the Games. … It is a wonderful opportunity to welcome athletes and their staff, and help them meet Christ."

Beyond the Olympic Village, a number of Paris' parishes will be welcoming visitors as part of the Holy Games project, launched by the Archdiocese of Paris.

"Attention to the poor will go hand in hand with attention to athletes," Bishop Gobilliard explained. "Paris' parishes will be open to visitors, and especially welcoming to the poor and homeless, thanks to the help of sponsors who have mobilized for the occasion. Parish halls will be made available to people living on the streets so they can watch the games in a warm atmosphere."

A "Solidarity restaurant" has been set up in the crypt of La Madeleine church.

"It will welcome people from all social backgrounds. High-level chefs are involved, and the food is very good. During the Games, the athletes will be especially invited to visit, and people living on the street will be able to see them up close," Bishop Gobilliard told OSV News.

The Paralympic Games set for Aug. 28-Sept. 8 will follow the Olympic Games. For Bishop Gobilliard, the Paralympic athletes are close to his heart as in 2018 he spent months in the hospital after an accident on a motorcycle, threatened by leg amputation, which eventually did not happen.

For him, the Paris Games are "an opportunity to recall the close link between the French Dominican (Father) Henri Didon and the Olympic Games."

It's Father Didon who is credited with establishing the modern Olympic motto: citius, altius, fortius in Latin (faster, higher, stronger), which he promoted first among students of the Catholic school he ran.

For Father Didon, "higher" was an invitation to raise his soul to God, Bishop Gobilliard said.
"For my part, I will be busy this summer reaching out to those who love sport to proclaim Christ to them," the bishop said. "That will be my mission!"