Religious & political leaders conclude interfaith peace dialogue in Italy

Religious and political leaders from across five continents gathered earlier this week for a high-profile dialogue for peace in Naples, Italy.

The 'For a world without violence' event was organised by the Catholic community of Sant'Egidio and included a Eucharistic celebration conducted by Pope Benedict on Sunday 21 October.

In a panel discussion held Tuesday morning on 'Faiths, war and peace,' the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, identified three "major threats" to world peace today, namely nuclear proliferation accompanied by "intense struggles for resources in an increasingly polarised world and the gradual weakening of the global institutions of mutual accountability"; the "increasing" impact of climate change; and "the threat of deepening injustices at all levels".

Kobia also emphasised the positive role religion can play in such a context. He said, "Faith communities are not defined along racial or ethnic lines, or by national borders, but cut across these divides. We can therefore help to find new ways to express our faith, to be able to talk to our neighbours of other faiths, and to forge common visions and goals for the sake of life."

The event echoes a decade-long peace initiative of the WCC, the Decade to Overcome Violence.

This campaign has focused on mobilising churches on the issue of violence and peacemaking, and ends in 2011 with an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation.

Among the personalities attending the Naples event were the chief rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger, the founder of the University of the United Arab Emirates Ezzeddin Ibrahim, and the Buddhist monk U Uttara from Burma, as well as the Italian premier Romano Prodi and the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, and of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado.

Signs of goodwill among religions and denominations at the Naples meetings included a relic of Saint Andrew being handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

It is believed that the larger part of St Andrew's remains were taken from Constantinople in the early 13th century and brought to Amalfi in southern Italy.

Dr Samuel Kobia concluded the event with a homily during a ceremony on Tuesday evening.