The Vatican has announced that the Pope will participate in the meeting organized by the Sant’Egidio community.

Newsroom (29/09/2021 07:30, Gaudium Press) The event organized by the Sant’Egidio community to promote peace and unity among religions will be attended by Pope Francis at the closing ceremony on October 7.

Between October 6 and 7 the 35th international meeting will take place: “Peoples brothers, Land of the future. Religions and cultures in dialogue”. The event will be attended by various religious leaders according to the “Spirit of Assisi”, referring to the one held in 1986 by John Paul II.

The community explained that the Pope will participate in an ecumenical prayer with Christian religions and then will meet with authorities of other religions.

World Political Figures will be Present

The final ceremony will be attended by personalities from the political world, so the opening will be held by Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio community, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

In an interview with Vatican News, Marco Impagliazzo declared that the Pope’s presence at the meeting brought great joy, and added: “The Pope guided, if I may say so, the world during the pandemic. His now-famous speech of March 27, about the crisis and the pandemic and how to get out of it, is a little bit the agenda of our meeting.

Last year, Impagliazzo had organized the prayer for Peace in a simpler way because of health protocol. The meeting was also attended by the Pontiff and was called “We cannot save ourselves alone”. He explained that this year’s prayer continues with the same perspective.

Impagliazzo pointed out that the encyclical Fratelli Tutti is “a reference text that indicates the future of the world”.  The only way out of the post-pandemic crisis is to “walk together and lay the foundation for a universal brotherhood” (FM)