Holy Games to be played by the Church at the Olympic Games

 The Holy Games project is part of the long tradition of companionship between the Church, the world of sport and the Olympic world in particular, in the presence of many representatives of French Catholic and sporting institutions.

With 20 million visitors expected, 15,000 athletes and 45,000 volunteers involved, the challenge of hospitality is considerable. Sport, and the Olympic Games in particular, are an opportunity for "encounter, formation, mission and sanctification", as Pope Francis recalled in 2018.

The mobilisation of the Catholic Church during the Olympic Games will focus on two points:

To celebrate with enthusiasm, through sport, the eminent dignity of the human person and the call to fraternity among peoples

To encourage access to the Games for the most vulnerable, in particular those in very precarious situations, so that no one is left by the wayside, in order to honour the Olympic motto: "Faster, higher, stronger - together".

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games & Catholic Church Project Management was created in September 2022, on the initiative of the Diocese of Paris and the French Bishops' Conference, under the authority of Mgr Marsset and a Steering Committee composed of the Auxiliary Bishop of Paris, Mgr Gobilliard - himself the Vatican Delegate for the Olympic Games - and personalities from the world of sport and events. The aim of this Directorate is to initiate, coordinate, animate and support the actions and projects carried out by the Catholic Church in France (parishes, movements, schools, communities) before and during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Holy Games, the Gospel is Sport

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games & Catholic Church project was initiated in December 2020 by Mgr Marsset, François Morinière (former director of the newspaper L'Equipe, and now a member of the Board of the Football League and the Paris 2024 Audit Committee) and Arnaud Bouthéon (co-founder of the Mission Congress, author of "Like an athlete of God"). Between 2020 and 2022, they successively met with all the institutional players of Paris 2024: the OCOG (Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024), SOLIDEO (the company responsible for the facilities of Paris 2024) and Prefect Michel Cadot, Inter-ministerial Delegate for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Source

1st Corinthians 9

24 Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain
Nescitis quod ii qui in stadio currunt, omnes quidem currunt, sed unus accipit bravium? Sic currite ut comprehendatis.

25 And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one.
Omnis autem qui in agone contendit, ab omnibus se abstinet, et illi quidem ut corruptibilem coronam accipiant : nos autem incorruptam.

26 I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air:
Ego igitur sic curro, non quasi in incertum : sic pugno, non quasi aerem verberans :

27 But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

sed castigo corpus meum, et in servitutem redigo : ne forte cum aliis praedicaverim, ipse reprobus efficiar.