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INTERNATIONAL PRAYER MEETING FOR PEACE PROMOTED BY THE COMMUNITY OF SANT'EGIDIO: "PEOPLES BROTHERS - FUTURE EARTH"

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Rome  ||  | 06 October 2021
Iniziative (EN) - Federazione Anna Lindh Italia - Onlus (EN)

The Fondazione Mediterraneo and the Anna Lindh Federation Italy participated in the International Prayer Meeting for Peace on the theme "Peoples Brothers - Future Earth", promoted by the Community of Sant'Egidio.
On this occasion, the participants signed the "Appeal for Peace".
President Michele Capasso underlined "the importance of the meeting because in this difficult moment, due to the pandemic, it is essential to reaffirm the spirit of brotherhood and union, considering us all together as "Brotherly Peoples" in order to build a "Future Earth". On this occasion, the program "UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD" for the safeguard of creation was re-proposed and - during a meeting with members of the Anna Lindh Federation - the video of the thirtieth anniversary of the Fondazione Mediterraneo was presented.
The Community of Sant'Egidio commented on the event as follows:
"A wind of peace is blowing in the shadow of the Colosseum. Religious and political leaders, united by the meeting "Brothers all, future land" attended the final ceremony and the delivery of the appeal for peace by the children, symbol of the new generations called to build a world of peace.
Believers of all faiths prayed for peace, in different places, and then met again at the Colosseum: it is the "spirit of Assisi" that continues to inspire the interreligious meetings since 1986, when John Paul II brought together the world religions in the city of St. Francis. It is not a ritual, but a reminder that, said the Pope quoting the words of his predecessor Karol Woytila, "peace awaits its makers." Our world, in fact is "forgetting the lessons of World War II" - argues the founder of Sant'Egidio, Andrea Riccardi - and war is "no longer a ghost of the past, but a constant threat."
"We need to "demilitarize the heart of man," sell fewer guns and better distribute vaccines, Pope Francis said forcefully, also recalled by the great Imam Al Tayyeb. Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the head of a country that, after the horrors of World War II, has made "respect for human dignity" the foundation of its constitution, hoped that "this spirit of communion will be reflected far beyond Rome and today's day."
"People are of two kinds: they are either your brothers in faith or your fellow human beings," the pope recalled. It is then necessary to seek peace with "religious and national narratives" as Rabbi Goldschmidt echoed him. The final appeal, read by Afghan refugee Sabera Ahmadi, states that "brotherly peoples and future earth" are in fact "indissolubly linked" and the pandemic "has shown how human beings are in the same boat, bound by deep threads. Hope, then, is in those festive children who today, in the half-light of the Colosseum, greeted the religious leaders. As Andrea Riccardi concluded, in fact, "we are at the appointment of a new world, determined to treasure the painful lesson of the history of women and men, determined to build it with everyone, especially the poor and the young".