VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has invited Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to a pilgrimage at the Umbrian hilltop town of Assisi, but the leaders won’t take part in common prayers as they did when summoned for a daylong prayer for peace by Pope John Paul II 25 years ago.
Instead, Benedict held a pre-trip prayer service for Catholics at the Vatican on Wednesday, since Thursday’s Assisi event — unlike the 1986 edition — will only feature time for individual prayer and reflection.
Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger didn’t attend the 1986 event and disapproved of members of different faiths praying in the presence of one another. As a result, the 25th anniversary edition won’t involve any communal prayer: The estimated 300 participants will be given time to pray silently in individual rooms assigned to each one after lunch.
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, who helped organize Thursday’s event as head of the Vatican’s justice and peace office, said the “real” prayer for peace commemorating John Paul’s 1986 meeting was Wednesday’s vigil service inside the Vatican.
“The emphasis is on pilgrimage rather than on praying together,” Turkson told reporters last week.
Twenty-five years ago, John Paul’s declaration of a global day of peace was radical amid
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