His greeting came only a few months after the Vatican hosted a Sport for All Conference attended by international sporting leaders including International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

Ever since his election, Pope Francis has demonstrated an enthusiasm for the Olympic Movement and on his first overseas visit after taking office, he even bestowed a blessing on the Olympic and Paralympic Flags whilst in Rio de Janeiro.

There was a time when provision for "a religious service" at the Opening Ceremony was even enshrined in the Olympic Charter and ordained church members have also competed in the Games.

When Baron Pierre de Coubertin set about reviving the Olympic idea in the late 19th century, he visited Rugby School in England and was much inspired by the idea of "Muscular Christianity," which combined faith and sporting endeavour.

De Coubertin visited the chapel where he saw the memorial to Thomas Arnold, Rugby’s revered headmaster from 1828 to 1841.

De Coubertin also took inspiration from Father Henri Didon, a Dominican Friar he described as "my illustrious friend."

In 1891, Didon made a lasting contribution to the philosophy of the Olympics whilst encouraging pupils who had formed an athletics association at the Ecole Albert Le Grand in Arcueil on the outskirts of Paris.

"Here is your watchword, Citius, Altius, Fortius, Faster, higher stronger," Didon told them.

Years later, De Coubertin adapted the phrase as the motto for the Olympics.

"Anyone who had contact with Father Didon saw his soul, for it was always on the front line, on the hilltop, looking straight ahead," De Coubertin wrote.

In April 1896, Didon attended the first Olympics of the modern era in Athens and preached a sermon at the cathedral in the city.

Didon was also present at the 1897 Olympic Congress which took place in Le Havre.

In De Coubertin’s words he was seen "whipping up the enthusiasm of the audience with one of those speeches at which he was so expert."

The other delegates included the Reverend Robert de Courcy Laffan, an English clergyman representing the Headmasters’ Conference, an organisation from English fee-paying schools.

"Mr Laffan stood up without a moment’s hesitation and in a French of the greatest purity he expounded his ideas on the moral value of sport," De Coubertin said.

"For my part, I was convinced that a new collaborator with the most invaluable qualities had fallen from the skies to help us."

De Coubertin ensured that Laffan was co-opted on to the IOC.

His judgement of his new colleague proved sound because Laffan was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the British Olympic Association.

Laffan was also rector of St Stephen’s Church, Walbrook in London, but it was another church in the city which had a significant role when London hosted the 1908 Olympics.

A major conference of prominent churchmen was held at around the same time. 

Ethelbert Talbot, who had been the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, was amongst delegates. 

 Talbot was invited to speak at St Paul’s Cathedral in London with an audience of athletes and officials attending the Games. 

"We have just been contemplating the great Olympic Games," Talbot said. 

"What does it mean? It means that young men of robust physical life have come from all parts of the world,

"Of course, it is very true, as he says, that each athlete strives not only for the sake of sport, but for the sake of his country, thus a new rivalry is invented.

"The only safety lies in the real Olympia. St Paul tells us how insignificant is the prize, only one may share the laurel wreath but all may share the equal joy of the contest." 

De Coubertin later recounted the sermon at an official dinner.

"Remember this strong phrase, gentlemen. It forms the basis for a philosophy that is both sound and clear," he said.

"The importance in life is not necessarily the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

He used the words to create the Olympic Creed. "The importance of these Olympiads is not so much to win as to take part."

There had been already been churchmen who had experienced both Olympic emotions. 

In 1904 Galen Carter Spencer, known as “GC” a retired minister of the Episcopalian Church had won archery gold for the United States.

In 1912 organisers scheduled prayers as part of the Opening Ceremony in Stockholm.

"At this great moment of joy, when we are assembled here in the glorious beauty of high summer, in this spot, dedicated to noble competition, we turn our eyes to thee," The Reverend Clemens Åhfeldt, Court Chaplain to the Swedish King began.

"Gathered before thy face stand here to-day youths from many nations and peoples and races, and speaking many tongues. But in thee are they all one."

Then came a second prayer, spoken in English by Laffan.

"Pour out, O Lord, the fullness of thy holy spirit on all who take part in these Olympic Games, fill them with the spirit of friendship, the spirit of brotherhood, the spirit of international unity and concord."

Among those competing was Sidney Swann, later Archdeacon of Nairobi, who won gold in the rowing eights.

Yet only two years later, the world was at war and many Olympians perished in the fighting.

Christopher Chavasse, who competed in the men’s 400 metres on the track at the 1908 London Games, was decorated with the Military Cross for bravery as an army chaplain, and later became Bishop of Rochester.

The war meant that the Olympics did not resume until 1920 in Antwerp.

"You, ladies and gentlemen, before the opening of the Olympic Games, have wished to commemorate those, who belonged to you and who did not return from this terrible war," Cardinal Désiré Mercier said.

"Before 1914, sport was one of the means to prepare for war, but today, it serves to prepare for peace."

De Coubertin insisted religious rituals should be "sufficiently neutral in character" so at Paris in 1924, there were sermons by Cardinal Louis-Ernest Dubois and the Protestant vicar Wilfrid Monod.

It was in Paris that Scottish runner Eric Liddell refused to compete on a Sunday because of his religious beliefs.

His subsequent victory in the 400 metres is celebrated in the Oscar winning film "Chariots of Fire".

Liddell spent one Sunday preaching at the Scottish church in Paris and after the Olympics, returned to China to continue missionary work.

Later Sweden’s Johan Richthoff, a preacher in the free church, won freestyle heavyweight gold in wrestling in both 1928 and 1932.

There was little talk of religion at the 1936 Berlin Games and it was not until 1948 that the Olympics were possible again.

In London, choirs sang the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel’s Messiah and the Archbishop of York, Cyril Forster Garbett also spoke a short prayer.

At the Opening Ceremony of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Finnish Archbishop Ilmari Salomes stood ready to read a prayer.

"Just as the atmosphere in the stadium was at its most hushed and solemn, an unexpected intermezzo occurred," the official report said.

German peace activist Barbara Rotraut Pleyer ran onto the field hoping to make an appeal that "all ‘cold’ and hot wars should be ended", and "the greatest possible measure of freedom and equality should be guaranteed."

She also had a message in Russian for the Kremlin.

"You have too little love, and for that reason you are filled with fear. That’s why you write about hopelessness and despair. But God will accept you."

She was ushered away before she could speak, but as she left the stage, the Archbishop began his prayer.

"Unite all the nations of the world with ties of peace and unanimity, teach us across dividing frontiers, across languages, world outlooks, cultures and religions to understand each other, to tolerate and love each other."

Amongst those listening was American pole vaulter Bob Richards, a Minister in the “Church of the Brethren”. 

He won two Olympic gold medals and was forever known as "the Vaulting Vicar."

Organisers of Rome 1960 set up an office of "religious assistance" and Pope John XIII gave an audience for Olympic participants in the Vatican.

He "graciously pronounced a fatherly speech in Latin, to the compact and valiant ranks of athletes," the official report said.

Over 4,000 were thought to have attended.

The Pope later offered private audiences to IOC members.

Two years later, Father Marcel De la Sablonnière was appointed director of the Canadian Olympic Association.

When the Flame was lit for Montreal in 1976, Sablonnière represented the Organising Committee at the Handover Ceremony in Athens when the Flame was transmitted to Canada by electronic pulse.

In 1980, Sablonnière was appointed Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

Another churchman, the Reverend Bernard Fell, was in charge of the Organising Committee.

He had also led Lake Placid’s bid and had been described by IOC President Lord Killanin as "certainly the most persuasive speaker I have ever heard." 

So many faiths are now represented at the Olympics that religious prayers have been replaced by a more general appeal for peace.

John Lennon’s peace anthem "Imagine" is often performed.

The Olympic Village now typically offers pastoral services in different faiths and individual teams often have attaches to offer spiritual guidance.

The Olympic Flame is lit with an appeal to the ancient god Apollo, but its message has been embraced by modern church leaders.

In 2005, two months before the Winter Olympics in Turin, the Flame came through the precincts of the Vatican as Luca de Leo passed it to Anton Kappler who had exchanged his Swiss guard uniform for the Torchbearer’s outfit.

In 2012, the Flame for London visited St Paul's Cathedral where the Olympic Creed had been inspired a century before.

In 2016, it burned in front of Rio’s cathedral at Candelaria throughout the Games.