Pope Leo XIV will return to Assisi on October 27 for the closing day of the 2026 interreligious meeting, four decades after St John Paul II gathered leaders of the world’s religions in the Italian city for a landmark day of prayer for peace. Source: OSV News.
Pope Leo will pray for peace together with the Christian community in the Lower Basilica of St Francis, during a special prayer for peace in which both he and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will offer a meditation.
From October 25 to 27, Assisi will host an interreligious peace prayer, the 40th annual meeting in a series initiated by St John Paul II when, for the first time in history, representatives of all world religions were invited by the pope to pray together for peace.
Among those inspired by that meeting was the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay organisation, which has continued to promote what is known as the “Spirit of Assisi” every year across Europe and beyond.
“We are truly delighted by the Holy Father’s return to Assisi,” said Archbishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi-Nocera. “We firmly believe that the Pope’s presence, together with all the other religious leaders, can reinforce the shared journey against every form of violence.”
Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, said at the Vatican on Tuesday that in Assisi, “a new and creative perspective for interreligious dialogue was born. Over the past 40 years, that spirit has become a necessity in a globalised world.”
Today, Mr Impagliazzo said, the world is “very frightened, fearful and torn apart, prey to nationalism and racism – a world that needs to be reunited once again.”
“But”, he continued, “if there is no spiritual unification of the world – and this is the message of Assisi and of all religions – it will be difficult for men and women to unite and to think of themselves as ‘brothers and sisters to all,’ as Pope Francis would say.”
The title of the Assisi 2026 meeting – “Disarmed and Disarming Peace” – comes from Pope Leo’s own words and the title of his July 21 book, Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift, published by the Vatican Publishing House.
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Pope Leo to deliver peace message in Assisi 40 years after St John Paul II’s landmark gathering (OSV News)
