Community of Sant’Egidio
Community of Sant’ Egidio a huge Roman Catholic Charity operating in over 70 countries holds an annual peace conference, inviting over 350 delegates representing different faiths, and international organisations like United Nations. It was at the instigation of Pope Paul II that first conference was held in Assisi in 1986. Since then every year the conference has been held in various European cities and it has been building up from strength to strength.
This year the conference was held in Rome which is also the headquarters of Sant’Egidio. The meetings were held in halls that were all a good reminder of the pomp and splendour of Rome.
The theme this year was ‘The Courage To Hope’. After the grand opening ceremony, 32 workshops were held over a two day period culminating in a grand procession for peace.
His Holiness the Pope also granted a short audience to the delegates in his palace and wished them well in their deliberations.
The workshops comprised of a moderator and 5 panel speakers, on a subject relating to the causes of violence, terrorism and consideration of relationship between communities like Christians and Muslims, in the modern world.
Institute of Jainology’s Director, Jaysukh Mehta was invited to the conference as the only Jain delegate internationally. He was also selected to be a member of the discussion panel titled ‘The Dialogue between Religions: a Road to Peace’ Along with him on the panel were the Catholic Bishop of Belgium, Vice President of the Islamic Society of Italy, Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism with the moderator being the Archbishop of Barcelona. Jaysukh Mehta’s talk can be seen by clicking here.
The grand finale was preceded by prayers by individual faith members in a location provided for them. Jain prayer was recited by both Mr Jaysukh & Mrs Ila Mehta. A brief explanation of the Jain philosophy was given before reciting the prayer. The prayer comprised of reciting the last three verses from Brihad Shanti in Sanskrit and explaining its meaning in English and Italian.There was only a limited audience of about 15 people but the prayer was followed by some very interesting questions.
The prayers were followed by a grand procession to Piazza del Campidoglio where the delegates were seated on a stage with an audience of few thousand people feeling up the Square. After the speeches by Archbishop of Rome, the Founder of Sant’Egidio every delegate was called upon to light a candle – over 100 candles per candelabra placed at the two front corners of the stage. Finally all delegates signed an Appeal for Peace. In a space of only three days very close bonds had developed and there was much hugging and shaking of hands with the delegates bidding farewell to each other.
Sant’Egidio (established ~1960) helps to relieve poverty, help with educational systems and provide care for the elderly. They have an army of volunteers all across Europe and also in some of the Asian and South American countries.