THE POPE has called for a truce for countries at war while the Olympics and Paralympics take place in Paris.

Speaking on Sunday in St Peter’s Square, Rome, Pope Francis invoked the tradition that the Olympics “be an opportunity to establish a truce in wars, demonstrating a sincere will for peace”.

Last Friday, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, were among some 700 who attended La Madeleine for a mass to launch the hoped-for truce.

In the ancient precursor to the modern games, a truce was observed to allow athletes to participate safely. The idea was revived in the 1990s, serving as a symbol and an aspiration.

In his homily, the Archbishop of Paris, the Most Revd Laurent Ulrich, said: “Ongoing wars do not cease during the Games, but the desire for peace spreads through the encounters they make possible in these sporting events,” the RC news service OSV News reports.

The British politician Lord Bates, who held ministerial positions in successive Conservative governments, has undertaken two epic walks — from Olympia, in Greece, to Westminster, and from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro — to promote the initiative (Interview, 23 December 2016).

The opening ceremony for the Paris Games is due to be held this evening, although some sporting events began on Wednesday afternoon. The Games finish on 1 August.

On Sunday, Radio 4’s Sunday Worship will broadcast a recording of a service in St George’s Anglican Church, situated just off the Champs-Élysées.