The interreligious meeting of prayer for peace,
organised by the Community of St. Egidio, returns to Rome for the first
time in 17 years. The meeting titled ‘The Courage to Hope’ will be the first since Francis was elected Pope and will be held near the time of the Pope’s visit to the Italian city of Assisi, the cradle of interfaith dialogue.
The Community’s president, Marco Impagliazzo presented the event schedule today and said the Syrian crisis would naturally be the dominant theme of the meeting: “We were really struck by Pope Francis’ words: “Don’t let your hope be stolen away”.
It was not only addressed to young people but to all generations and, in today’s world, possibly to all peoples. Hope is lacking in so many parts of the world and we are getting used to the rites of war and conflicts.”
“This resignation to the inevitability of violence was particularly evident during the Syrian crisis. “what is lacking is hope in the vision of a new world which can be found in Pope Francis’ words. Hope requires courage in today’s day and age,” Impagliazzo said.
The Community’s founder, Andrea Riccardi, stressed the urgent need for international action to stop the war in Syria and reopen negotiations in a public appeal to world leaders ahead of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg.
He asked participants to come up with an initiative to give space to dialogue again, because this is “the only possible solution that can prevent us from being crushed by another crisis.”
Impagliazzo said the first signs of hope and courage came from Russian foreign affairs minister, Lavrov, who proposed Assad turn over his chemical weapons. If the proposal is accepted, it could prevent international military intervention.
The meeting organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio, will be held in Rome between 29 September and 1 October. There will be 400 representatives of all the main religious traditions and European and world political and cultural representatives from 60 countries.
One of the meetings – all of which will be held in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood where the Community is based – will be on “religious terrorism” and presided by the President of the pontifical Council for Religious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The inspiration for this came from the Pope himself. He asked the Community’s heads to look into the issue.
Participants include dozens of cardinals, bishops, representatives of all Churches and representatives of the Jewish and Muslim faiths as well as other world faiths.
Politicians such as Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Cecile Kyenge, Mario Mauro, Graziano Delrio and Flavio Zanonato, Pakistani politician Paul Bhatti, the mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino and others will also be attending.
Aside from the Syrian and Middle Eastern crisis, other subjects that will be dealt with during the meeting, include 50th anniversary of “Pacem in Terris”, Pope Francis’ Latin America, Islam and the culture of co-existence, religions and violence against women, welcoming and integrating immigrants, sick cities and existential suburbs, information at the service of peace, lay people and believers in dialogue, eco-sustainability of the future, longevity as a blessing and martyrdom today.
The primary focus will be on the persecution of Christians. Pope Francis will receive the meeting’s participants in an audience on Monday 30 September at 12:00.