Pope Proposes Evangelism with Olympics Sports

While various Christian organisations such as Hellenic Ministries, YWAM and Greek Bible Society, spearhead preparations for the massive outreach during the Olympic Games starting on 13 August in Athens, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church have encouraged their churches to take action in evangelism.

On 3rd August, the Pope announced that a Vatican Department devoted to returning morality to sport is to be established. The Pope has addressed his worry that many sports nowadays have become increasingly slanted from the original sporting ideals. Some sources predicted that the Pope would refer to “drugs scandals, commercialisation, violence on the pitch and the media focus on the sexual and financial misdeeds of sports celebrities rather than their sporting ability.”

The Pope commented that “sport plays an important role in the life of our society” because the Olympics will be watched by millions. Therefore, it is essential to make sports “one of the frontiers of the new evangelism” and introduce Christian values through it.

According to the Pope, “Sport should be practised in accordance with the humanising force of the Gospels, in a fair and healthy competitive spirit. This will help you to tackle the important race of life with courage and honesty, with joy and calm confidence in the future.”

The new Church and Sport department will be chaired by Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, who is a member of the Pope’s Polish inner circle and a close friend. The five functions of the department will be:

- to make the Church a reference point for national and international sports organisations

- to stimulate links between local churches and sports events

- to encourage a vision of sport as a means of personal growth and friendship between peoples

- to promote an ethical approach to sport

- to publicly support athletes who offered “a witness to the Christian life”

As the state religion of Greece, the Orthodox will also start faith works during the Olympics. Early in February, Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church of Greece, issued a controversial 10-point letter to churches in Athen, recommending church clergy dress properly, address visitors softly, tidy up the church, ring bells sparingly and have brochures ready for thousands of tourists during the Olympics in an attempt to promote the country’s Orthodox heritage.

Furthermore, it was announced earlier this week by Archbishop Christodoulos, that elite priests from the Orthodox Church would be deployed for the spiritual needs of Olympic athletes. They will be responsible for holding morning and evening services at the Olympic village every day.