The first International Congress on faith and sport, which opens tomorrow in the Vatican, will gather at the highest level representatives from the world of sport, leaders of different religions, representatives of academia, business and non-governmental organizations involved in the sports world, and many goodwill athletes.

The meeting intends to launch for all humanity a global movement inspired by six overarching principles: compassion, respect, love, light, balance, joy. Institutional partners of the initiative are the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee, while the Allianz Group is a founding partner.

IOC president Thomas Bach and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among the keynote speakers at the conference, the opening ceremony of which is to take place on the afternoon of Wednesday October 5, at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, and will be presided by Pope Francis.

Many IOC Members will be in attendance, among them Mario Pescante (ITA), Chair of the IOC Commission Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport, and Honorary President of the European Olympic Committees.

During the three day conference, they will address how faith and sport can work together for the common good, since both are, albeit in a different way, “driving forces of global society, and can promote positive values,” says Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca y Alameda, Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council.

At a press conference in the Vatican today, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will inform media come to Rome for the event.

The letters “in” indicate the three major themes of the conference: inclusion, involvement, inspiration; to reflect “how sport and faith together can help to create more integrated communities (inclusion), give life to a better society (involvement), and how they can be a source of inspiration and personal growth (inspiration).”