EUROPE/ITALY - Religious Superiors call believers to unite 30 March in “a day of prayer and fasting for Peace” to end all the many wars in the world

Rome (Fides Service) - Superiors General of religious institutes are calling on Christians and all believers to observe March 30 as a day of prayer and fasting for Peace. The International Union of Superiors General made the appeal “to participate in a day of prayer and fasting for an end to violence and war in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, northern Uganda, Nepal, Colombia, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon and any place in the world where discord and division reign”. The convocation uses words from Pope John Paul II’s message for World Day of Peace 2002: “Precisely for this reason, prayer for peace is not an afterthought to the work of peace. It is the very essence of building the peace of order, justice and freedom. To pray for peace is to open the human heart to the inroads of God's power to renew all things. With the life-giving force of his grace, God can create openings for peace where only obstacles and closures are apparent; he can strengthen and enlarge the solidarity of the human family in spite of our endless history of division and conflict. To pray for peace is to pray for justice, for a right-ordering of relations within and among nations and peoples. It is to pray for freedom, especially for the religious freedom that is a basic human and civil right of every individual. To pray for peace is to seek God's forgiveness, and to implore the courage to forgive those who have trespassed against us”.
The Superiors General add: “We think that setting aside one day during Lent to pray together for peace on earth could have a powerful effect on our world”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 15/3/2007 righe: 26 parole: 261)