Five religions gather to celebrate fraternity at Paris Olympics

By Jean-Benoît Harel and Lisa Zengarini

During the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, Notre-Dame Cathedral hosted an extraordinary interfaith ceremony.

100 years later, a new multi-faith meeting was held on August 4 on the forecourt of the famous Parisian cathedral to celebrate the spirit of fraternity that drives the most important sporting event in the world.

Participants in the ceremony

On Sunday morning at 10am, representatives of the world’s five major religions gathered in front of one of the most emblematic symbols of Paris, still under reconstruction after the devastating fire of April 15, 2019, and which will reopen its doors in December of this year.

Surrounded by about 100 chaplains from the Olympic Village’s multi-faith center, they shared their thoughts on how sport can bring out the best in humanity and serve the people of the world.

The Christian religion was represented by Bishop Philippe Marsset, Auxiliary Bishop of Paris, Reverend Christian Krieger, President of the French Protestant Federation, and Reverend Anton Gelyasov, National Chaplain of Orthodox Hospitals.

They were joined by Haim Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France, Najat Benali, President of the Association of Paris Mosques, Lama Jigmé Thrinlé Gyatso, Co-President of the Buddhist Union of France, and Shailesh Bhavsar, representing the Hindu community.

Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne, the Holy See’s special envoy for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, told Vatican News’ Jean-Benoît Harel that Notre-Dame de Paris was the obvious location for the event because it is a place of deep religious significance for Christians but also “a place that speaks to all peoples” around the world.

The religious leaders expressed themselves freely, through prayers, exhortations or readings. Bishop Gobilliard underlined the impact of the moments of silence observed during the ceremony.

“I think it’s the most beautiful way to express a common prayer, it allows us to say something important and beautiful,” he said.

“God performed a miracle”

The first interreligious meeting organized on July 5, 1924, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, initiator of the modern Olympic Games, brought together almost all the athletes.

Bishop Gobilliard recalled that the initiative had initially sparked some controversy. Bishop de Coubertin specified that the ceremony would include “neither mass, nor blessing, nor priests at the altar, nor any other element of a Catholic ceremony, but nothing other than beautiful songs, in a beautiful setting, and a few very secular words of welcome.”

The ceremony was, however, later hailed by the press of the time. French daily Paris Evening He even went so far as to say that “God had performed a miracle by bringing together Protestants, Buddhists, Jews and Orthodox Christians in his sanctuary.”

Spirit of brotherhood

This extraordinary event, Mgr Gobilliard stressed, shows that already a century ago, religions wanted to express their fraternity, stressing that this happened during the Olympic Games.

This spirit of unity will continue to accompany Olympic athletes throughout the Games at the Olympic Village’s multi-faith centre, which houses five prayer rooms and offers spiritual support during competition.