(ATR) Pope Francis will welcome leaders from different religious faiths, sport, business and academia to the first global conference dedicated to faith and sport in October 2016.
IOC president Thomas Bach and UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon will be invited guests when Sport at the Service of Humanity opens in Vatican City on Oct. 5, 2016.
Bach pledged the IOC’s support of the future summit at a news conference in Lausanne on Dec. 10, following an executive board meeting.
"The Vatican is inviting to a forum the people of all faiths, all religions, all different backgrounds, to discuss the common values that faith, religion and sport have and how to promote these values like peace, tolerance and many others," Bach said.
"The IOC is very appreciating of this initiative because it affects and is inviting everybody," he said.
His Holiness Pope Francis will lead proceedings at the opening ceremony to be held at the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. The three-day conference, Oct. 5-7, will be comprised of plenary and themed breakout sessions. A final declaration is being planned.
As Bach alluded, the primary objective of the inaugural conference at Synod Hall on the Vatican grounds, is to create a setting for thought leaders from various sectors to discuss how faith and sport can cooperate together to better serve humanity.
"You may know that the pope is a great sports lover and has delivered a number of speeches about the values of sport in education for youth," Bach said of Pope Francis, who has presided over the Roman Catholic Church since March of 2013. "Therefore, when we were contacted the first time with this idea we were very appreciative."
The Argentine born Pope Francis, who has professed to being a soccer enthusiast, has been presented with soccer jerseys from various groups on multiple occasions. In May, Italy’s Lazio Sports Society, a youth organization founded in 1990 to uphold ethical and moral values in sport, gifted him with a special Argentina soccer jersey during a visit to the Vatican.
"Sports done right helps build a more caring, brotherly and just world that helps overcome "human and social disadvantage," the Pope told the group at the time.
Bach noted that the United Nations is also highly supportive of the Vatican’s new initiative.
"On the fringes of the Pope’s visit to New York and the United Nations, this idea was also discussed with the UN secretary general and from the involvement of the UN, you can also see the neutrality of this initiative," said the IOC chief.
We’re very happy to join forces with the Pope, and the secretary general of the United Nations to promote our Olympic values and to discuss how we can maybe cooperate in this respect with everybody."
Arrangements for the conference are in development under the direction of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Ravasi helped shape the agenda for the event having hosted key global influencers in September.
Written by Brian Pinelli
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