The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has praised Pope Francis for co-organizing an international football match whose aim is to promote peace around the world and to raise funds for children in need.
The ‘Inter-Religious Match for Peace’ at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Monday night featured around 50 international stars and players with a Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist background, including Brazil’s Neymar, Israel's Yossi Benayoun and France’s former international player Zinedine Zidane.
Arfgentina’s Diego Maradona and Italy’s Roberto Baggio were also among the former football stars who played. The Argentine pope, an avid football fan, did not attend the match but had an audience with both teams earlier in the day and also broadcast a message on the big screens at Rome's stadium ahead of kickoff.
"By lending his backing to this initiative, Pope Francis has proved once again that he is open to unconventional and refreshing ideas on how to bring people together to unite for a common aim: peace,’’ said Claudio Epelman, the WJC official in charge of dialogue with the Vatican.
‘’The Pope deserves our wholehearted support in this endeavor, and we hope he will succeed in bringing people from different religions closer together,” he added.
The Inter-Religious Match for Peace is the brainchild of retired Argentine captain Javier Zanetti and is being organized by the Scholas Occurrentes initiative, an Argentine project that aims to educate poorer people in different countries around the world, and Italy’s Fundazione PUPI, which works to unite people of different faiths.