“I also follow with attention and emotion the personal stories of refugee athletes. May their testimonies help to encourage civil societies to open up with ever greater confidence to all, leaving no one behind.”
During the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a 29-member team of refugee athletes competed under the Olympic flag. However, the Refugee Olympic Team will not be competing at the considerably-smaller Winter Olympics.
“I wish the great Olympic and Paralympic family a unique experience of human brotherhood and peace: blessed are the peacemakers,” he said.
On Feb. 4, the world will acknowledge the second-ever “International Day of Human Brotherhood.”
It is a reason for satisfaction that the nations of the entire world are joining in this celebration, aimed at promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue, as also called for in the Document on Human Brotherhood and for World Peace and Common Coexistence, signed on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Aḥmad al-Tayyib, and by myself,” said Pope Francis.
“Brotherhood,” said the pope, “means reaching out to others, respecting them and listening to them with an open heart.”
Pope Francis hopes that in the future, “concrete steps will be taken together with the believers of other religions, and also with people of good will, to affirm that today is a time of brotherhood, avoiding fuelling clashes, divisions, and closures.”
“Let us pray and commit ourselves every day so that we can all live in peace, as brothers and sisters,” he said.
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