Pope John Paul II arrived Sunday at the Olympic Stadium here for a Jubilee sports celebration in front of an expected crowd of 60,000 spectators.
The pope was expected to talk about violence and doping in sport at a mass held before a football match involving Italian stars and a team made up of foreign stars who play in the Italian league.
On arriving at 09:30 am (0830 GMT), the Pope made a lap of honor around the stadium in a convertible car.
He was welcomed by the president of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch and the president of the Italian Olympic Committee Giovanni Petrucci.
He was scheduled to stay for the first half of the match.
His attendance at the match was a papal first -- the last game the pope reportedly watched was in 1982 on television when Italy and Poland met – ROME (AFP)
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