Pope lights torch for international winter university games

November 06, 2013 - Pope Francis on Wednesday lit the torch of the 26th Winter University Games scheduled from Dec. 11 to 21 in the northern Italian autonomous province of Trentino. In a brief ceremony under the Arch of the Bells in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, prior to the weekly general audience of Wednesday, the Pope lit the torch in the presence of a delegation of the games' organizing committee. The international winter university sports event known as “2013 Winter Universiade” has 79 events in 12 disciplines. The games will be inaugurated in the city of Trent, that hosted the famous Council of Trent of the Catholic Church in the 16th century. When Sergio Anesi, the president of the organizing committee of the 2013 Winter Universiade invited the Pontiff to the event, the Pope joked, “To Trent? For a Council, certainly!” The Holy Father however invited them to pray for him saying he needs prays. Jean-Claude Gallien, the president of the International University Sports Federation, who was present at the ceremony, noted that with the lighting of the torch, Pope Francis wished to send out a message of trust in young people, "our patrimony for the future, for whom we are committed to build a better world full of solidarity."