Olympic Humanism beneath the Shadow of Nero’s Obelisk
This allocution of John XXIII to Olympic athletes (St. Peter’s Square, 24 August 1960) greets sportsmen from all nations, recalls Pius X’s courtesy toward Pierre de Coubertin, extols physical exercise and noble competition, and briefly alludes to Rome’s dual role in history and religion, presenting the city as providential center of empire and then of Christianity, and concludes with a generic invocation of divine blessings on the athletes and their families. The entire speech is a polished hymn to natural virtue and international camaraderie, burying the Cross and the Kingship of Christ under an elegant cult of the body and of “universal” values, and thus manifests from its first line the spiritual sterility of the conciliar revolution.
Profanation of the Martyrs’ Blood by Olympic Spectacle
At the factual level, one scene dominates: athletes assembled in St. Peter’s Square, near the obelisk once standing in Nero’s circus, where, as tradition holds, St. Peter was crucified. John XXIII says that Bernini’s colonnade embraces them “with immense arms” and that he rejoices to welcome them, explicitly evoking that very place of martyrdom and then transmuting it into a sentimental backdrop for athletic games.
He juxtaposes:
“Near the obelisk of this square, once erected in Nero’s circus, near which Peter, Prince of the Apostles, suffered martyrdom… we gladly left Castel Gandolfo today, to greet here in this square your throngs.”
The historical reality: Nero’s circus was an arena of blood, where Christians were massacred precisely because they refused to burn a grain of incense to the idols of empire. The martyrs there confessed the exclusive, public royalty of Christ against the cult of the State and the cult of man. The Church, formed in their blood, anathematized pagan games whenever they were bound up with idolatry, cruelty, and the glorification of the flesh. Early Christians refused to attend the circus and amphitheatre because this would signify complicity with pagan worship and moral corruption.
Contrasted with this, John XXIII aesthetically sanctifies the Olympic spectacle on that very ground, elevating “gymnastic contests” and “noble competitions of the arena” as honorable in themselves, without a syllable about:
– the Most Holy Sacrifice,
– the necessity of the true Faith for salvation,
– the obligation to renounce false cults and immoralities often linked with such global festivities,
– the martyrial witness of separation from the world.
This is not a neutral omission. It precisely inverts the logic summarized by Pius XI in Quas primas: peace and true human fraternity flow only from the public reign of Christ the King, not from internationalist festivals. To transform Nero’s circus into a liturgical backdrop for Olympic humanism is to adorn the arena of persecution with a new cultus: the cult of “mens sana in corpore sano” as quasi-sufficient ideal.
The speech thus enacts a subtle desacralization: the martyrs’ place is co-opted to legitimize a naturalistic celebration, relegating their bloody confession to decorative pathos.
From Martyrs of Christ to Apostles of “Mens sana in corpore sano”
The linguistic center of the allocution is the exaltation of bodily exercise and psychological virtues.
He praises:
– “health, vigor, agility, grace, beauty” of the body;
– “constancy, fortitude, self-denial” of the soul;
– “sana aemulatio” (healthy emulation) without hatred;
– “serene composure, cheerfulness” in competition;
– the motto “Mens sana in corpore sano.”
These are naturally good qualities insofar as subordinated to supernatural ends. Classical Catholic doctrine (St. Thomas Aquinas, Roman Catechism, the ascetical tradition) never denies legitimate recreation or formation of the body. But doctrine also teaches:
– the primacy of the supernatural end,
– the fallen state of nature,
– the necessity of sanctifying grace and right intention,
– the danger of giving autonomous cult to the flesh, speed, success, national glory.
Precisely here the speech betrays its ideological core: virtues are praised, but only as immanent dispositions of the natural order; they are never explicitly related to:
– living and dying in the state of grace,
– conformity to Christ crucified,
– subordinating every talent to the service of the true Church,
– rejecting false religions and corrupt customs often surrounding such events.
Even when he notes that sport must not become “the supreme good of man” nor hinder duties of life, this is framed in bourgeois moralism, not in terms of mortal sin, idolatry, or final judgment. There is no explicit warning that the same body, idolized in stadiums, is ordained either to resurrection unto life or unto damnation.
The language is politely horizontal, bureaucratically benevolent. It mimics supernatural concern while never crossing the threshold into the dogmatic and ascetical frankness of the pre-1958 Magisterium. It is the rhetoric of the conciliar sect in nuce: morally decent, theologically evacuated.
Instrumentalizing Pius X to Baptize Olympic Ideology
One of the most insidious gestures is the appeal to St. Pius X. John XXIII recalls that Pius X once received Pierre de Coubertin and “highly approved” his initiatives. The implication is transparent: to legitimize the modern Olympic movement as harmoniously embraced by an authentic Saint, thereby covering with a halo of continuity the present exaltation of Olympic humanism.
From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, several distinctions are necessary:
– A private gesture of courtesy or encouragement regarding physical education in 1905 does not canonize the entire future ideological complex of the Olympic movement, especially as it has developed into a quasi-religion of globalist humanism, relativism, and eroticized spectacle.
– St. Pius X’s true mind is seen in Lamentabili sane exitu and Pascendi, where he condemns any attempt to naturalize or historicize the Faith, to subordinate the supernatural to evolving “modern” culture, to transform dogma into symbol of immanent human aspirations.
To selectively cite his kindness toward Coubertin while burying his thunderous condemnations of Modernism is a manipulative pseudo-tradition: *traditio simulata*, an artificial “continuity” employed as a shield for rupture. It is precisely the method that the conciliar sect will later formalize as the so-called “hermeneutic of continuity”: a rhetorical varnish to cover essential betrayal.
In this speech, Pius X’s name functions as a false credential to sacralize an event whose ethos is purely naturalistic. This selective memory is a symptom of systemic dishonesty.
Rome Reduced to a Vague Religious Symbol, Not the Citadel of Catholic Truth
John XXIII develops a brief historical-theological sketch: Rome as head of the empire, unifying the Mediterranean world and beyond, aiding communication and language, so that “by admirable divine providence” it becomes the center of Christianity and from there diffuses the “goods of evangelical salvation, charity, peace” to all peoples.
On the surface, this is not entirely false; Catholic theology often recognized divine providence in Roman history. But note the omissions and distortions:
– No mention that Rome’s primacy is rooted in the Petrine office, in the divine constitution of the Church, not in imperial logistics. Pius IX in the Syllabus condemns those who reduce the Church or papacy to a historical-political product. John XXIII’s wording, emphasizing the empire’s civil factors and then sliding into religious centrality, resonates more with historicist narratives than with the dogmatic assertion: the Roman Pontiff is successor of Peter by Christ’s institution, independent of political contingencies.
– No allusion to Rome as seat of the one true religion to the exclusion of errors. Pius IX explicitly condemns indifferentism (Syllabus, 15–18), and teaches that it is erroneous to claim one may find salvation in any religion. Here, however, the address is to athletes “from all nations,” obviously adherents of every possible false cult, yet they are greeted merely as fraternal participants in common ideals, without a single doctrinal challenge.
– No explicit call to conversion to the Catholic Faith as necessary condition to enjoy those “goods of salvation.” The language of “peace” and “charity” is detached from the doctrinal conditions of their possibility: submission of intellect and will to the revealed truth, membership in the true Church, rejection of heresies and idols.
Thus Rome is presented less as *caput et mater omnium Ecclesiarum* (head and mother of all Churches) guarding the deposit of faith (cf. Vatican I, *Pastor aeternus*), and more as inspirational backdrop for a humanitarian ethos. This is qualitatively modernist: doctrine reduced to symbol of universal brotherhood.
Silence on Salvation: The Gravest Indictment
The most incriminating theological datum is not what he says, but what he studiously does not say.
To an immense gathering of young men and women from all over the world, standing literally where the Prince of the Apostles shed his blood confessing the only Name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12), the speaker:
– does not preach repentance from sin;
– does not mention the necessity of baptism in the Catholic Church;
– does not warn against false religions explicitly present among the audience;
– does not recall the dogma extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation) in its constant sense;
– does not even hint at the Last Judgment, Heaven, Hell, or the danger of eternal loss.
Instead, he blesses them in their natural aspirations, appealing to a generic “Almighty God,” in language perfectly compatible with religious indifferentism.
This silence is not accidental courtesy; it is programmatic. It embodies the condemned thesis that “good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ” (Syllabus, 17) as if this could justify withholding the urgent call to conversion. It anticipates the later cult of dialogue, the practical denial that “the Catholic Church is the only true religion” (Syllabus, 21).
Silentium de necessariis (silence about what is necessary) in such a setting is a betrayal of the apostolic mandate: “Teach all nations… teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19–20). When the Successor of Peter’s name is invoked to speak, and instead of Catholic dogma he offers a motivational talk on fair play, we see the essence of post-1958 apostasy: not always frontal denial, but systematic omission, displacement, and naturalization.
Olympic Morality as Substitute Gospel
Observe how the speech constructs a coherent moral schema that functions as a surrogate gospel:
– Ideal of balanced physical and moral formation;
– Exhortation to discipline, self-denial, perseverance;
– Emphasis on fairness, lack of envy, respect for opponents;
– Praise of fraternity among nations through sport;
– Invocation of “Mens sana in corpore sano” as condensed wisdom.
All of this is proposed as sufficient horizon of meaning for those gathered. Classical natural virtues, instead of being subordinated to Christ, are elevated as almost autonomous salvific path. While he briefly notes that sport should not be the “supreme good of man,” the real supreme goods he implicitly offers are “peace,” “charity” in the horizontal sense, and “fraternal union” in common activity.
This is precisely the naturalistic moralism condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium:
– Pius IX denounces the thesis that human reason can be “the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil” (Syllabus, 3).
– St. Pius X condemns in Pascendi the reduction of religion to immanent moral experience and social utility.
– Pius XI in Quas primas insists that no genuine peace or moral order is possible unless states and societies recognize the sovereign rights of Christ the King and obey His law in public life.
Here, instead of the regal claims of Christ over individuals and nations, we receive a liturgy of the Olympic charter. International sport is treated as privileged locus of “peace” and “brotherhood,” implicitly rivaling the Church’s own supernatural unity.
Lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief). The public ethos staged here—St. Peter’s Square, papal address, blessing—functionally prays a new creed: I believe in sport, mutual respect, and the healthy body as signs of higher humanism. This is incompatible with the traditional Catholic vision if left detached from the Cross—and in this speech, it is detached.
Conciliar Sect DNA: Universalism without Conversion
The symptomatic level reveals how this allocution is a distilled anticipation of the later conciliar and post-conciliar ideology.
Key traits manifested:
– Universal fraternization without dogma: He embraces athletes of all religions as de facto partners in a shared moral project, without distinguishing truth from error. This is the seed of Assisi-style syncretic gatherings and the cult of “universal brotherhood” of the Church of the New Advent.
– Humanitarian reinterpretation of Rome: Rome’s primacy is suggested more by historical-providential narrative than by supernatural institution; a step toward conceiving the papacy as moral voice of humanity rather than guardian of defined dogma.
– Moral exhortation without supernatural edge: “Self-denial” and “constancy” are preached as natural performance virtues, not as participation in the Cross and ascetic fight against sin and heresy.
– Sentimental papal persona: The self-presentation as “humble Successor of Peter” who leaves Castel Gandolfo to greet youth, using warm, paternal language, but empty of dogmatic precision, is the template for the pseudo-pontifical populism of his successors in the conciliar sect.
Thus, far from being an innocent minor speech, this text is one more tessera showing that with John XXIII begins a systematic remodeling of the papal voice:
– from authoritative teacher of revealed truths,
– to global chaplain of human aspirations.
This remodeling is what Pius X foresaw and condemned: the infiltration of Modernism—“the synthesis of all heresies”—into every level of ecclesial life, disguising itself under apparently edifying language.
Obscuring the Public Reign of Christ the King
In the light of Quas primas, published only 35 years earlier, the allocution is particularly revealing by contrast.
Pius XI teaches:
– that calamities afflicting nations result from the exclusion of Christ and His law from public life;
– that peace will not shine upon peoples until individuals and states recognize and submit to the reign of Christ;
– that the Church must remind rulers and societies of their duty to publicly honour and obey Christ, and that the legislation, judiciary, and education must be conformed to divine law.
In this allocution, speaking to representatives of numerous states, amid the political-symbolic environment of Rome and the Vatican, John XXIII:
– does not remind states or organizations of any duty to recognize Christ the King;
– does not challenge the secularist dogma underlying the modern Olympic movement, which presupposes religious neutrality and equality of cults;
– does not expose the liberal thesis “the Church ought to be separated from the State and the State from the Church” (Syllabus, 55) as a root of moral devastation.
Instead, he offers a blessing that effectively ratifies their secular paradigm. It is an ecclesiastical benediction bestowed upon a world order structurally premised on the denial of the social Kingship of Christ. This is not accidental tact; it is surrender.
In the supernatural order, such surrender is betrayal: *non possumus* (we cannot) normalize a system which enthrones man, sport, and neutral “peace” while silencing the unique sovereignty of Our Lord and His Church.
Modernist Rhetoric: Ambiguity, Softness, and the Disarming of Conscience
On the linguistic level, the speech perfectly exhibits the modernist method:
– Gentle, effusive tone (“dearest athletes,” “fraternal union,” “we embrace you with moved heart”).
– Absence of sharp doctrinal formulations or condemnatory language.
– Use of pious-sounding generalities (providence, blessings, dignity) without concrete doctrinal demands.
– Invocation of a motto “Mens sana in corpore sano” as quasi-spiritual axiom, though in its original pagan context it hardly expresses Christian metaphysics.
Such rhetoric disarms conscience. It creates the impression that:
– remaining in one’s religion and moral framework is acceptable, provided one practices fairness and discipline;
– the Church’s role is to “encourage” and “bless” universally acknowledged values;
– Christian specificity—dogma, sacrament, obligation of conversion—is secondary, impolite, or outdated.
This is precisely what the pre-conciliar Magisterium condemned in those who claim the Church should “adapt herself” to modern civilization, reconciling herself with liberalism and naturalism (Syllabus, 80). When the papal voice deliberately avoids the supernatural edge, it catechizes the world into apostasy.
Conclusion: Under the Shadow of the Obelisk, the Shadow of Apostasy
In sum, this allocution is not a harmless marginal text. Its essence:
– profanes the memory of St. Peter’s martyrdom by subordinating it to the pageantry of international sport;
– elevates natural virtues and bodily culture without firm subordination to Christ crucified and risen;
– exploits the name of St. Pius X in a selective manner to canonize an entirely different spirit;
– presents Rome primarily as a historical-symbolic center of unity rather than as dogmatic citadel of the only true Church;
– suppresses the dogmatic call to conversion of non-Catholics, replacing it with a humanistic fraternity;
– blesses, in effect, a secular, religiously indifferentist order.
Under the obelisk taken from a pagan emperor and planted where Christians died refusing to burn incense to idols, John XXIII burns incense to the idol of the modern conscience: man disciplined, sportive, fraternal, and self-satisfied without the Cross.
Measured against the unchanging Catholic doctrine synthesized by Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X, and Pius XI, this allocution stands as an early, clear manifestation of the conciliar sect’s program: to transform the visible structures occupying Rome into a chaplaincy of the world, exchanging the sword of the Word of God for the laurel of Olympic moralism.
Non est hoc vox Petri, sed vox mundi in vestibulo Petri resonans (This is not the voice of Peter, but the voice of the world echoing in Peter’s courtyard).
Source:
Allocutio ad athletas ex omnibus nationibus, qui Romam convenerunt ut Ludos participarent Olympios (die 24 m. Augusti, A.D. MCMLX) (vatican.va)
Date: 08.11.2025