Day of Prayer - World Day of Prayer For Peace

World Day of Prayer For Peace

Not to be confused with the World Day of Peace.

Blessed Pope John Paul II organized the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy, on October 27, 1986. In all there were 160 religious leaders spending the day together with fasting and praying to their God or Gods. They represented 32 Christian religious organizations and 11 other non-Christian world religions, including:

• Christian religions and organizations:
  • Roman Catholic Church
  • Greek Orthodox Church
  • Russian Orthodox Church
  • World Council of Churches
  • World YWCA
  • World Alliance of YMCA's
  • Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers)
  • Mennonite World Conference
  • Reformed Ecumenical Synod
  • Baptist World Alliance
  • Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
  • World Alliance of Reformed Churches
  • Lutheran World Federation
  • Anglican Communion
  • Old Catholic Church of Utrecht
  • Assyrian Church of the East
• Hinduism
• Sikhism
• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Islam
• African and North American animists
• Shintoism
• Zoroastrianism
• Baha’i

In 1993, John Paul II repeated the Day of Prayer to pray for an end to the war in Bosnia, and invited leaders of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions. And on January 24, 2002, he organized another World Day of Prayer for Peace, again in Assisi. Some 200 other religious leaders were present, including Roman Catholic cardinals, Muslim clerics, Jewish rabbis, Buddhists, Sikhs, Bahais, Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and members of African traditional religions. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorism attacks, the event intended to discourage making religion a motive for conflict in the 21st Century- the Pope had explicitly condemned the attacks when they happened and again a year later at the commemoration, saying there was no possible excuse or justification for such acts.

Blessed Pope John Paul II's successor and former aide, Pope Benedict XVI, will travel to Assisi on Thursday, October 27, 2011 for an ecumenical discussion to commemorate the 1986 meeting, but there will be no single interdenominational prayer service, reflecting the current Pope's view that, while such gatherings are good, one cannot give the impression- even externally, interpreted by others- that theological differences have been reduced or are not consequential.