In a personal message addressed to each of the 10 members of the new Refugee Olympic Team, Pope Francis wished them success in their events and thanked them for the witness they are giving the world.
Naming each of the team’s athletes – from South Sudan, Syria, Congo and Ethiopia – Pope Francis said he had read some of the interviews with team members “so that I could get closer to your lives and your aspirations”.
“I extend my greetings and wish you success at the Olympic Games in Rio – that your courage and strength find expression through the Olympic Games and serve as a cry for peace and solidarity,” he said in the message.
The 2016 Summer Games marks the first time a refugee team has officially participated in the Olympics. Team members marched under the Olympic flag and, in the event a team member wins a medal, the Olympic anthem will be played.
Pope Francis expressed his hope that through the team “humanity would understand that peace is possible, that with peace everything can gained, but with war all can be lost”.
“Your experience serves as testimony and benefits us all,” the Pope told team members.
Yusra Mardini, 18, was the first member of the team to compete in Rio. The swimmer is ranked 41st among women swimmers competing in the 100m butterfly; Mardini finished first in her initial heat on Saturday.
Like tens of thousands of Syrians, Mardini fled her war-torn country through Lebanon and Turkey. She found a space on a rubber dinghy to make her way to Lesbos, Greece, but the motor stalled. She, her sister and another woman – the only people on the boat who could swim – pushed the boat to shore.
Cardinal: Amoris Laetitia controversy could be fruitful
Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said that Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, could lead to “fruitful” debate.
Speaking at a convention of the Knights of Columbus in Toronto, the cardinal said: “In all honesty, I think that controversies around Amoris Laetitia are understandable, but, in all confidence, I believe they might even be fruitful in the end.”
The cardinal, who is prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said he was grateful for Amoris Laetitia, describing it as “a document worth reading and rereading, slowly, one chapter after another.” He especially praised “chapter four on love”.
Cardinal Ouellet said chapter eight, which has provoked much debate, should be interpreted via the “careful and open-minded discernment of priests and bishops towards people in need of charity and mercy”.
The cardinal also said Amoris Laetitia did not suggest a change in doctrine. “What is proposed is a new pastoral approach: more patient and respectful, more dialogical and merciful,” he said, adding: “I am confident this process of discernment will bear fruit for all Christian families.”
Prelate blesses Olympic torch
high above the city, beneath the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio Cardinal Orani Tempesta blessed the Olympic torch, held by Brazil’s former Olympic volleyball player, Maria Isabel Barroso Salgado.
“This is the moment for us to surpass our difficulties and work together as a team, making our country and our world safer, less unequal, and putting love in the hearts of all,” the cardinal told reporters.
