The World Day of Prayer for Peace concludes the three-day event organized by the Sant’Egidio Community with participation of more than 450 religious leaders of different faiths gathering to pray for peace and strengthen dialogue in the spirit of Assisi.
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The head of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, who took the papal name Francis in homage to the famous Christian friar and his devotion to peace and forgiveness, has insisted violence committed in the name of religion has nothing to do with God.
The Pope went by vehicle to the Sacred Convent of Assisi and was received by the Custos, Father Mauro Gambetti; by His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople; by Abbas Shuman, Vice-President of Al Azhar (Egypt); by His Grace Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury; by His Holiness Ephrem II, Syro-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and by the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardi Di Segni.
“The world is at war!”
He said each refugee “has a name, a face and a story, as well as an inalienable right to live in peace and to aspire to a better future” for their children. Christians will pray in St. Francis Basilica, while those from other religions will pray in different locations in the Umbrian hill town that for centuries has drawn those admiring the peace-advocating saint who abandoned wealth for an austere existence of preaching tolerance. Francis said in his homily, explaining the need to invite people of all religions and all men and women of good will “to pray for peace”.
The Pope also ate with Syrian refugees Mohanad and Nour Zanbou and their daughter.
“We are frightened by acts of terrorism”, he said, “and they are bad, very awful”.
We think war is far away, he said, but “No!”
While he acknowledged that Western nations have seen recent attacks against their citizens, he said it is “nothing” compared to the fighting in the Middle East “where day and night, bombs fall”. It is very close, because war touches everyone.
“Following the example of St. Francis (of Assisi), a man of brotherhood and kindness, we are all called to offer the world a strong testimony of our common commitment to peace and reconciliation among peoples”, the pontiff said. And God is a God of peace.
Francis also spoke out against war and arms trading, which he said are the reason for much of the poverty around the world. There is no god of war.
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A Muslim speaker, Din Syamsuddin, president of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, lamented that lack of peace in the world is expressed in injustice, terrorism and other evils, and that some groups use the name of Islam to carry out violent acts. Shame for this: “that human beings, our brothers and sisters, are capable of doing this”, of killing and wounding others and carrying out bombing campaigns that prevent the delivery of needed food and medicine.
