LWF President Younan and General Secretary Junge Reflect on Assisi Pilgrimage
ASSISI, Italy/GENEVA, 28 October 2011 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) leaders participating in the “Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace” day of reflection, dialogue and prayer in Assisi, Italy, have underlined the powerful role of faith in bringing peace and reconciliation.
“As a communion of churches we envision to be working together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world,” LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge told Lutheran World Information (LWI). He noted the 27 October pilgrimage took place weeks after three women of faith received the Nobel Peace Prize. One of the laureates, peace activist Leymah Gbowee, is a member of the Lutheran Church in Liberia.
“I went to Assisi with a deep sense of gratitude for their witness and the witness of many other local leaders around the world, who because of their faith use every opportunity to stand for peace, justice and non-violence,” said Junge.
The LWF general secretary and the President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan were among 300 religious leaders from a wide array of faith groups, and those with no religious affiliation participating in the event. They were invited by Pope Benedict XVI to the Umbrian hilltop town of Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a day of prayer for peace called by Pope John Paul II at the height of the Cold War.
Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, said the pilgrimage was a good opportunity to find out how religion can be the source of solutions for peace and justice in the world.
“The Church needs to be prophetic and in being so it offers something important to the world, which Christ loves and gave himself for the sake of every person,” he said.
The day included a reading by some of the faith representatives of “A Common Commitment to Peace,” agreed at the 2002 meeting. Younan read in Arabic the paragraph stating a commitment “to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion,” with emphasis on “doing everything possible to eliminate the root causes of terrorism.”
The LWF president said the religious leaders go back to their respective contexts “with the challenge of interpreting what they experienced here into the realities of oppression and injustice that so often are experienced on the ground.” (413 words)
See also:
- First Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa
- Holy Land Lutheran Bishop and Other Faith Leaders Make Peace Commitments
- Nobel Prize for Peace Shows Link between Faith and Peace-building
- Parliamentarians Propose Collaboration with Religious Leaders to Advance Peace, Security in Africa
- African Envoys Laud Religious Leaders’ Role in Peace and Development
- Lead the Drive for Justice and Peace, Asian Faith Communities Urged
- ELCA Synod Bishop, Other Faith Leaders Urge Re-authorization of AIDS Plan
- Women Challenge Faith Leaders Over Slow Pace in AIDS Response
- Canada's Lutherans Resolve to Advocate for Peace in the Holy Land
- LWF President Hanson Among World Religious Leaders Featured on Television Program
