One day a wonderful idea came up. “The common prayer of all religions for peace – that is what we need!” the Holy Father confessed. It was he who chose the city of St. Francis as the most suitable place to invite the entire religious world to make a pilgrimage along the path of peace.
On October 27, 1997, the World Day of Prayer for Peace took place in Assisi. For the first time, representatives of all religions, namely more than four billion men and women, met in one place and at the same time in prayer to plead with the Most High for the gift of peace. On the right side of the Pope sat Archbishop Metodios of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Archbishop of Canterbury Runcie and Head of the Orthodox and Protestant Churches, on the left – the Dalai Lama and other personalities of non-Christian religions.
Throughout the day, to celebrate this historic moment, there has been no single casualty of war around the world.
After centuries of wars, conflicts and misunderstandings, the meeting in Assisi, or rather, as it should be said, the “event” that took place in the city of St. Francis, more than the words spoken there, became a turning point in the history of relations between religions. In prayer, in its universal language, different religions, respecting identity and individual spiritual experiences, found their nature and original inspiration. They discovered that they had an authentic, fraternal bond.
With the consent of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”.
TBA marketing communication Publishing House. Warsaw 2007
