By: Motoko Rich - Reporting from Milan Published in: *The New York Times* Date: February 6, 2026 The Milan-Cortina Games are overlapping with a moment of geopolitical turbulence as conflicts rage, national leaders issue threats and alliances are strained.
Hours before the official opening of the Winter Olympics in northern Italy on Friday, Pope Leo XIV issued a papal letter <https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2026/02/06/7777/00210.html#inglese> on the value of sports, calling for nations to pause military conflict during the Games as “a symbol and promise of a reconciled world.” Leo, who recently condemned what he described as a “zeal for war <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/world/europe/pope-leo-address-war-diplomacy.html> ,” contrasted “the common good” represented by sports with the “refusal to cooperate with each other” that resulted in war. The opening ceremonies of the Milan-Cortina Games are overlapping with one of the greatest moments of geopolitical turbulence <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/olympics-world-order-war.html>since the last world war <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/olympics-world-order-war.html> , as conflicts rage around the globe, national leaders threaten violence and alliances are sharply strained. In recent weeks, President Trump ordered a military intervention against Venezuela <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/us/politics/trump-capture-maduro-venezuela.html> and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro, and warned he would use force to take Greenland <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/world/americas/trump-greenland-annex.html> , a threat he subsequently dropped. At the same time, efforts to end almost four years of war after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shown little public progress <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/world/europe/russia-ukraine-peace-talks.html> . Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Milan on Thursday. Mr. Vance met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy early Friday afternoon. With the Olympics on a grand global stage, the pope called on politicians and others not to yoke athletic accomplishments to nationalistic pride, though he did not refer to anyone specifically. “When sport succumbs to the mentality of power, propaganda or national supremacy, its universal vocation is betrayed,” he wrote. “Major sporting events are meant to be places of encounter and mutual admiration, not stages for the affirmation of political or ideological interests.” Other popes have spoken about sports, but Leo’s message is particularly notable for its breadth and because it was delivered in the form of a letter, a formal designation in the papal world. Pope John Paul II, an avid skier and swimmer, convened special meetings for athletes in 1984 and 2000 during two Roman Catholic Jubilees, which marked a year of penance and forgiveness for the church. The Vatican, under Pope Francis, issued a lengthy publication about the church and sports <https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/06/01/180601b.html> in 2018, during Europe’s migrant crisis, noting that “more and more people are struggling to coexist with those who are culturally different or hold belief systems different from their own.” It said that “sports are one of the few realities today that have transcended the boundaries of religion and culture.” The Rev. Paul Tighe, the spokesman for the Vatican department of culture and education, said Leo’s letter was “one of the most important statements coming from a pope on sports.” While noting that sports can be a symbol of peace and fraternity, Leo warned that financial interests could corrupt the benefits of participating. He also addressed repeated doping scandals <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/world/europe/doping-neutral-testing-olympics-.html> , writing that “the dictatorship of performance can lead to the use of performance-enhancing substances and other forms of dishonesty.” Citing his particular concern for the potentially warping effects of artificial intelligence, he wrote that such technologies could transform “the athlete into an optimized, controlled product, enhanced beyond natural limits.” In the midst of all the warnings, Leo, a recreational tennis player and perhaps now the world’s most famous White Sox fan <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/world/asia/pope-leo-liberal-conservative.html>, also wrote of the personal joy that athletes could find if they focused on the “rewards intrinsic to the activities they perform, namely by accomplishing them and appreciating them for their own sake.” He gave a shout-out to his preferred sport, tennis, when he described an extended rally as “one of the most enjoyable parts of a match” because it showed each player pushing “the other to the limit of his or her skill level.” Elisabetta Povoledo and Josephine de La Bruyère contributed reporting from Rome. Motoko Rich is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the Vatican and Greece.
