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September 03, 2012


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Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has been asked to speak to a Vatican conference on religious liberty.

The flamboyant Jamaican athlete, "the world's fastest human," was asked to join other athletes and entertainers who will participate in the "TED x Via della Conciliazione" conference in April 2013. The initiative is co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture.


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Daily Monitor
Article Source
Tuesday, September 4 2012 at 01:00

I am thrilled that the world’s fastest man and destroyer of time, Jamaican sprinter Usain (lightning) Bolt, has been invited to address a Vatican conference on religious liberty.

As a Catholic, Bolt is known for making the Sign of the Cross before racing competitively. He also bears the middle name Saint Leo.

The Greeks knew that athletic prowess was a gift from the heavens and that it needed to be cultivated and appreciated as such. Artistic talent, also God-given, was used in the ancient world to produce the stunning sculptures we admire today in the Vatican museums, from the discus thrower to the heroic amazons.

I applaud Usain for using his God given talents and gifts to help promote a modern conversation about art, faith and athletic achievement in the same way that the early Christian community extolled those same qualities in their saints and spirituality. I commend the gold medal Olympian for his determination in helping to spread the message of peace, and highlight the fact that religious freedom constitutes a very important dimension of man and culture.

Usain is well known to the world as a secular legend. Hopefully, this event will help to establish him as a renowned spiritual legend!


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