Pope, religious leaders pray for peace in Assisi
Reprinted from The Florida Catholic January 31, 2002

"Violence never again. War never again. Terrorism never again. In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and peace, forgiveness and live, love." Pope John Paul II

Violence and terrorism are incompatible with the faith and belief of all the world's religious, more than 200 spiritual leaders said during the January 24 meeting with Pope John Paul II in Assisi.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the pope said, religious leaders have wanted to do their part of fend off "the dark clouds of terrorism, hatred (and) armed conflict.

In his January 27 midday Angelus address, Pope John Paul said the daylong interreligious pilgrimage to the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi marked "another milestone on the path of building a civilization of peace and love."

The pope said he and the other religious leaders appealed to their faithful and to all people of good will, forcefully rejecting "the temptation to resolve the serious problems of humanity with the use of weapons and violence."

The Assisi gathering brought together Christians from 16 churches and communities, 30 Muslims clerics from 18 nations, 10 rabbis, and representatives from Buddhism, Tenrikyo, Shintoism, Jainsim, Sikhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism and traditional African religious.

The leaders traveled with the pope by train to Assisi, reflected on peace together, prayed for peace separately using their own rites, then gathered together again to make a common commitment to promoting peace and teaching their faithful that true religion cannot be used to promote violence or terrorism.

"Violence never again," the pope said at the end of the afternoon meeting.

"War never again. Terrorism never again," he said.

"In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and peace, forgiveness and life, love," the 81-year old pope said before his guests set lighted glass and terracotta oil lamps on a large table as a sign of hope.

During the afternoon service, 10 religious leaders, reading in 10 different languages, recited 10 commitments they all promised to help bring peace to the world.

The Rev. Konrad Raiser, secretary-general of the World Council of Churches, read the first pledge in German: "We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm commitment that violence and terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion and, as we condemn every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion, we commit ourselves to doing everything possible to eliminate the root causes of terrorism."

The leaders also promised to educate their faithful to respect others, to foster dialogue, to defend each person's right to live a decent life, to value differences, to be voices for the poor and defenseless and to promote friendship among peoples.

At the morning gathering, Pope John Paul said he and other leaders of the world's religions share the anxiety of many of their faithful, but they also share a firm belief that God can grant the world peace.

"In times of great anxiety about the fate of the world, we sense more clearly than ever the duty to commit ourselves personally to the defense and promotion of the fundamental good which is peace, " he said, welcoming the leaders to Assisi.

Pope John Paul offered a special greeting to Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, "the city so terribly affected by the tragic events of Sept. 11."

Pope John Paul and the other leaders who spoke at the morning session in Assisi repeatedly underlined the need for justice and respect for human rights in building peace. "It cannot be forgotten that situations of oppression and exclusion are often at the source of violence and terrorism," he said.

But religious leaders also know that forgiveness is part of peacemaking because it "heals the wounds of the heart and fully restores damaged human relations," the pope said.

Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox and one of three patriarchs participating in the meeting, told the gathering, "Today, once more, following horrendous holocausts and the slaughter of so many innocent victims, it is our duty to acknowledge the spiritual conditions for peace on earth, and not merely economic or other factors.

"These conditions include righteousness and respect for the sacredness of the human person, for one's neighbor and for his freedom and dignity," the patriarch said. "We must repent and turn back to God in full awareness of his holy will and in obedience to it. Only then will God hear our prayers and grant us and all mankind true peace on earth," he said.

Chief Amadou Gasseto, who described himself as the high priest of followers of Avelekete Voodoo in Benin, echoed the patriarch's point about personal behavior. "We must begin by achieving mastery over ourselves so as not to speak words which lead to feelings of opposition, exclusion or violence," he said.

Rabbi Israel Singer, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, following little of his prepared text, address the pope. "You should tell your people and we should tell ours, all of us --- all of us --- to question whether land or places are more important than people's lives and, until we learn to do that, there will be no peace," the rabbi said. K

History, he said, has shown that despite beautiful religious exhortations to be a force of peace, "the reality has been that, in practice, religions have served to foment scores of horrendous and bloody wars."

The rabbi was the only religious leader besides Pope John Paul to refer specifically to Sept. 11 in his public address. We are all too familiar with the way in which on Sept. 11 madmen who claimed to be acting in the name of religion plunged three airplanes into both towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousand in only a few minutes, thus causing the first international military conflict of the 21st century," he said.

"We must remember that in no religion are we commanded to kill indiscriminately, and those who have taught otherwise have done so by hijacking and distorting the religions in whose name they speak," the rabbi said.

Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi of al-Azhar University in Egypt and spiritual leader of the world's Sunni Muslims, sent a message to the gathering thanking the pope for his initiative and explaining Islam's fidelity to God, its precept of respect for "all monotheistic religions revealed by God" and its emphasis on moral values.

"All the monotheistic religions preach that the human being should support law and justice, restoring the legitimate proprietors to their rights," he said, making his reference to tensions in the Holy Land obvious by thanking the Vatican for its "honorable support of the Palestinian people."

Wahby el Samman, a professor of Islamic law at al-Azhar, told reporters on the train, "We don not know if Osama bin Laden is a good Muslim or not because we know him only from television, but I must say that the terrorists certainly are not good Muslims, because God does not want violence."

The professor said there are some Muslims who hate others, "which can happen in a family," but that does not mean Islam is the motivation or support for their hatred. "We must give them our example so that they return to love."

Most of the participants returned to the Vatican aboard the papal train Jan. 24, then joined the pope for a festive vegetarian luncheon in the apostolic palace the next day.

"With all our differences, we sit at this table, united in our commitment to the cause of peace," he said.

"That commitment, born of sincere religious sentiment, is surely what God expects of us. It is what the world seeks in religious men and women."