Pope hails unifying power of sport ahead of Olympics
Pope Francis hailed the unifying power of sport on Sunday ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and repeated his call for a worldwide truce during the event.
“Sport has a great social strength, capable of peacefully uniting people of different cultures,” he said in St Peter’s Square after his weekly Angelus prayer, ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday in Paris.
“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world that we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, be messengers of peace and effective models for young people in particular,” the 87-year-old said.
“According to the ancient tradition, the Olympics are an occasion to establish a truce in wars, demonstrating a sincere desire for peace.”
The Olympic Games run from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8.
West’s double standard
Meanwhile, IRNA wrote on Sunday that the West’s double standard approach toward human rights and equality is once again in the spotlight amid France’s refusal to ban Israeli athletes from participating in the Paris Olympics.
Calls have been growing on France to ban Israel’s participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics – seen as a symbol of global peace and friendship – over the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza that has killed nearly 39,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since early October.
But the government of Emmanuel Macron and the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games have remained adamant, refusing to put the ban on Israeli participation. This comes while Russian and Belarusian athletes are treated in a different way over the war in Ukraine. Their athletes are barred from participating under their national flags and are only allowed to qualify as neutrals.
Western countries have taken a tough stance against Russia over the Ukraine war, which began after the same countries failed to address Moscow’s security concerns over their military alliance NATO’s expansion eastward. But the West has remained silent on the continued killing of civilians in Gaza by the Israeli regime and has even tried to portray Israel as a victim of the war.
This blatant support, while being inhumane based on moral values, is considered unwise as it has had no benefits for Western governments but to draw global anger against them.
The reason behind this support is probably related to Western politicians who achieve personal political gains by remaining loyal to Zionist lobbyists providing them with money and power.
With popular calls already getting louder in Western countries over the Israeli regime’s conduct, these governments are better to realize that keeping support for the regime at the expense of silencing freedom-seeking voices is of no use for them, while adopting double standard approaches regarding international bodies will discredit these bodies and replace them with other organizations.