By Vatican News, OSV News
ROME — Forty years after St. John Paul II gathered leaders of the world’s religions in Assisi for a landmark day of prayer for peace, Pope Leo XIV will return to the city Oct. 27 for the closing day of the 2026 interreligious meeting.
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 Oct. 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 organization, which since then 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,” Archbishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi-Nocera said. “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 during an Oct. 6 press conference at the Vatican 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 globalized world.”
Today, 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.
A total of 384 representatives of religions, cultures, and institutions from 53 countries will take part in the event, with 155 speakers participating in 24 thematic forums, addressing subjects including peace and conflicts, prayer and economy, but also topics such as children and young people, the media, migration, Christian unity, and contemporary martyrs.
At the conclusion of the 2026 meeting, Pope Leo XIV “will give the world his message of peace, which is increasingly necessary,” Impagliazzo said.
Cutline for featured image: Pope Leo XIV stands in front of the historic Porziuncola during a Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, Italy, Aug. 6, the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Forty years after St. John Paul II gathered leaders of the world’s religions in Assisi for a landmark day of prayer for peace, Pope Leo will return to the city Oct. 27 for the closing day of the 2026 interreligious meeting. (OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media)
