Sant'Egidio leaders discuss
Auschwitz inter-religious meeting
with Pope Benedict XVI
VATICAN CITY, AUG. 31, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Members of the Sant’Egidio Community are holdingan inter-religious meeting in Auschwitz this year, and met with Benedict XVI today to discuss the program.
The Sept. 6-8 meeting in Krakow and Auschwitz is a continuation of the first inter-religious and intercultural meeting called in 1986 in Assisi by Pope John Paul II.
Professors Andrea Riccardi and Marco Impagliaazo, founder and president, respectively, of the Sant'Egidio Community, met the Pope in Castel Gandolfo this morning, accomapnied by Mons. Vincenco Paglia, Bishop of Terni. [It is the eve of the liturgical feast of Sant'Egidio - St. Giles, in English.]
The event, encouraged by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, is titled “The Spirit of Assisi in Krakow” in connection with the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.
Among the participants will be the chief rabbi of Israel, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the president of the Council of European Churches, and a representative of the Orthodox Church of Russia.
Also invited are the heads of state of Costa Rica, Cyprus, Albania, East Timor, Poland and Uganda.
The program will close with a pilgrimage to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, as a "sign of reconciliation and peace to manifest a radical rejection of violence and war as instruments for the solution of international conflicts,” organizers explained.
The program for the event may be found on
www.santegidio.org/index.php?pageID=905&idLng=1064
After the first Assisi meeting in 1987, the Sant'Egidio Community has sponsored a yearly inter-religious meeting in 'the spirit of Assisi', choosing a different city as venue every year.
In addition to ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, the Pope also spoke with the meeting organizers about Africa, and particulary Sant’Egidio’s contribution to the fight against AIDS.
The Community of Sant'Egidio began in Rome in 1968, in the period following the Second Vatican Council. Today it is a movement of lay people and has more than 50,000 members, dedicated to evangelisation and charity, in Rome, Italy and in more than 70 countries throughout the world.
The Pope visited the Community at St. Bartholomew Church on Tiberina island in Rome on Apirl 8. 2008, on their 40th anniversary.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/09/2009 13:52]