Vatican City

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has sent his blessing and best wishes to Vancouver's archbishop for a peaceful Olympics.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday met athletes participating in the swimming world championships in Rome and urged them to act as role models for fellow youths "in sports and in life." Benedict blessed and shook hands with athletes in the courtyard of his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo in the hills outside Rome, and praised their "exciting performance." He playfully put on sports hats the athletes gave him and triumphantly raised a plush green frog - the mascot of the Rome championships.

VATICAN CITY - If one career highlight was getting Barack Obama elected president, another might be meeting the pope.