VIDEO MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE "MATCH FOR PEACE"

Monday, 1 September 2014

Good evening,

I’m glad you have come together for such a symbolic match. It is a match which highlights the union of the teams, and the union of spectators watching, and everyone’s desire, which is for peace. It is a match where no one plays for himself, nor for one another, but for all. And thus each one grows. And by playing as a team each one grows as a person, grows as a people, becomes greater. And by playing as a team, the competition, instead of being a war, is the seed of peace. For this reason the symbol for this match is the olive tree. I greet, in a special way, the members of Scholas, who have cooperated in the organization of this match, and who will plant the olive tree of peace. I invite all of you to plant it together with Scholas. I apologize for speaking in Spanish, but it is the language of my heart, and today I wish to speak to you from the heart.

Thank you.

(by L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 36, 5 September 2014)