A Prophet of Peace

In October this year, the Church celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Pope St John Paul II’s ground-breaking interreligious gathering in Assisi, the place St Francis called home.

Pope John Paul announced the World Day of Prayer for Peace following the UN’s declaration of an International Year of Peace in 1986. The gathering itself was inspired by the life of St Francis. A man who, in the words of Pope John Paul II, was a “prophet of peace… loved not only by Christians, but by many other believers and by people who, though far-removed from religion, identify with his ideals of justice, reconciliation and peace” (1, §2).

Just as St Francis sought to live peacefully with God’s Creation, so too did he seek peace between people of faith, crossing over battle lines for peace in the practice of the Gospel.

In his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis outlined St Francis’ meeting with Sultan Malik-el-Kamil in Egypt. To reach the Sultan, St Francis had to step over battle lines drawn out in war and in exchange, offered a “humble and fraternal ‘subjection’” (2, §3). In place of hostility, “he simply spread the love of God” (2, §4).

Using St Francis’ encounters as inspiration, the World Day of Prayer for Peace brought together the world’s Christian leaders alongside leaders of other religions. Standing side by side, leaders shared a moment of silence, a collective longing for peace.

Pope John Paul emphasised that “as religious leaders you have come here not for an interreligious Conference on peace”, but to demonstrate a shared belief that peace can be brought about as “the result of prayer” (3, §1). This was echoed in the Pope’s own proclamation at the gathering: “May peace come down upon us and fill our hearts!” (3, §5).

Members of religions did not pray together. Instead, each went to their separate places for prayer, expressing themselves in their own tradition.

For Pope John Paul II, this part was an essential step in making the Assisi gathering authentically Catholic. He was acutely aware that the encounter at Assisi could be misconstrued as an engagement in syncretism, the erroneous concept where beliefs from different religions are fused together or treated as identical. To engage in syncretism is to deny the distinct characteristics and beliefs of different religions.

As such, in his opening speech, the Pope lays out that “the fact that we have come here does not imply any intention of seeking a religious consensus among ourselves or of negotiating our faith convictions” (3, §2).

Instead, the meeting attests to only “that in the great battle for peace, humanity, in its very diversity, must draw from its deepest and most vivifying sources where its conscience is formed and upon which is founded the moral action of all people” (3, §2).

Indeed, in his encounters with the Lord, St Francis discovered the deep wellspring of God, the living water of eternal life, a source which vivified, animated and enlivened him. Francis witnessed to the action of God in the other, for his “fidelity to his Lord was commensurate with his love for his brothers and sisters” (2, Pope Francis, §3).

Pope John Paul’s meeting in Assisi was a watershed moment for the Catholic Church’s engagement in interreligious dialogue. It put into action the foundational work of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s document on interreligious relations.

40 years after the gathering at Assisi, St Francis’ life remains an inspiration, reminding us that no one religion has a monopoly over seeking and creating peace. It is our shared duty to be peacemakers, walking alongside each other into the way of peace.

To read a more detailed account of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, please see here for a reflection from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

And to read a brief account of St Francis’ life, please see here:

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