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.

Paul Kokoski

Ontario, Canada