Pope Francis calls for Olympic truce for countries at war, prays for peace
Vatican City, July 21: Pope Francis on Sunday voiced his hope that the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games will provide an opportunity for countries at war to respect an ancient Greek tradition and establish a truce for the duration of the Games.
“According to ancient tradition, may the Olympics be an opportunity to establish a truce in wars, demonstrating a sincere will for peace,” Francis said during his Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
The Pope stressed that sport also has “a great social power, capable of peacefully uniting people from different cultures.” The opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games will be held in Paris on July 26 with the participation of 205 delegations of athletes, who will parade on more than 80 boats on the Seine.
“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, may be messengers of peace and valuable models for the young,” Francis added.
The pope, as always, asked the faithful to pray for peace, recalling the ongoing conflicts around the world.
“Let us not forget the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and many other countries at war. Let us not forget, war is a defeat,” he concluded. (AP)’
Trump says Chinese President wrote him ‘beautiful note’ after assassination bid
WASHINGTON, July 21: Former US president Donald Trump has said that Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote him a beautiful note after the Republican presidential nominee suffered a gunshot wound to his ear during an assassination attempt.
Trump said this at an election rally on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, exactly a week after a young shooter tried to assassinate him by hitting a bullet in his head. Trump escaped miraculously as it hit part of his right ear. His former doctor said he was doing good.
“I got along very well with President Xi, who’s a great guy. He wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened, and he wrote,” Trump, 78, said, adding that he received such notes from other leaders as well.
The ex-president did not specify which other leaders had contacted him.
“A lot of them didn’t like what I was doing to them, but they also knew it was about time. The jig was up, right? It was about time. But they wrote to me, almost all of them, wrote me notes. It was nice. Now I have a good relationship with all of them. That’s a good thing,” he said in his first campaign rally since surviving an assassination attempt.
He was shot in the ear less than 10 minutes into his speech, prompting him to be escorted off stage. One attendee and the shooter died during the attack while two others were injured. Trump has long boasted of having a warm relationship with Xi
In 2020, while serving as president, Trump said that he and the Chinese president “love each other,” despite accusing the country of engaging in “predatory practices” in its trade relationship with the U.S. As president, Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese exports and sharply criticized the country for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, Trump said that he would be tough on China as he mentioned in the letter he received from Xi.
“I took on China like no administration in history, bringing hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into our treasury when no other president had gotten 10 cents. China never gave us 10 cents. They got hundreds of billions of dollars from China,” he said. (PTI)