Vatican City Increases IOC Ties

(ATR) The Vatican City is sending a representative to meet with the IOC in January in an effort to create an office between the two groups.

Gianfranco Ravasi, the head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will visit IOC headquarters, according to a report from the AP, where discussions over a "permanent liaison office" will take place.

Relationship between the IOC and the Holy See has increased under IOC president Thomas Bach and Pope Francis. In 2013, Bach and other Olympic leaders were received by the Pontiff, where the religious leader called for the IOC to use its platform to encourage peace worldwide.

Bach and Pope Francis both addressed the United Nations in September, during a meeting of the UN General Assembly to discuss the newly-adopted Sustainable Development Goals.

As the Vatican heads to Lausanne, it is keen to say that the meeting is not an endorsement for the Rome 2024 bid, which would like to include events in Vatican City.

Rome 2024 would like to see the marathon event go through St. Peter’s Square, although the Vatican is unsure of the plan’s feasibility.

"We can dream about it, it would be a nice sign, but it's technically very difficult," Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, council undersecretary in the Vatican, said to the AP.

"I think it would be a powerful sign, but the Vatican does not favor any bid. We cannot be seen as being part of Rome."

Rome is bidding for the 2014 Olympic Games along with Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles and Paris.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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