And so the quadrennial international ritual known as the Summer Olympic Games is over.

When Team USA members David Boudia and Steele Johnson emerged simultaneously crying and smiling from their final dive Aug. 8 at the Rio Olympics, the silver medal in men’s synchronized platform diving was theirs.

RIO DE JANEIRO – Glued to the improvised screen set up on the patio of the Caritas house, the refugees yelled and they cried. But most of all, they cheered. They cheered for their two Congolese colleagues, Popole Misenga, 24, and Yolande Mabika, 28, who were competing in judo as part of the United Nations' Refugee Olympic team.

The XXXI Olympic Games, the 16-day athletic love-fest to a samba beat in Rio de Janeiro, are a secular endeavour featuring more fanfare than faith, more spectacle than spirit.

VATICAN CITY – In a personal message addressed to each of the 10 members of the new Refugee Olympic Team, Pope Francis wished them success in their events and thanked them for the witness they are giving the world.

RIO DE JANEIRO – High above the city, beneath the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio Cardinal Orani Tempesta blessed the Olympic torch, held by Brazil's former Olympic volleyball player, Maria Isabel Barroso Salgado.

The 2016 Summer Olympics kick off with the lighting of the Olympic Torch on Aug. 5. The Olympic Games are a secular endeavor, but religion is everywhere, if you know where to look. For example, athletes who are religious may say a little extra prayer to St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes and of the host city of Rio de Janeiro. Who was St. Sebastian and how did he come to be the symbol of both?

ROME – Just ahead of the opening of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis has released a video celebrating the important role of sports in building world peace.

VATICAN CITY – A more important prize than a gold medal is up for grabs at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro: a chance to experience solidarity and contribute to the realization that all people are members of one human family, Pope Francis said.

WASHINGTON – Kyle Snyder's knack for making history began during his junior year of high school, when he helped win the first-ever state championship for the wrestling team of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland. In March 2015, Snyder helped Ohio State win its first national title in wrestling, and in September of that same year, Snyder became the youngest world champion in the history of USA wrestling.