THE "SPIRIT OF ASSISI" IS A PROVIDENTIAL GIFT FOR TODAY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon, Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, read a message from the Pope to mark the closure of the 13th international meeting of representatives from Churches and Christian communities and from the great world religions. Participants have been considering the theme: "Oceans of peace. A contrast of religions and cultures." The meeting has been promoted by the Community of St. Egidio in Lisbon, Portugal.

In his message, dated September 21, John Paul II made reference to the meeting for the invocation of peace, held in Assisi, Italy, in 1986. He told Cardinal Cassidy and the participants that "the 'spirit of Assisi' is a providential gift for our time."

"In the diversity of religious expressions, faithfully recognized as such, to stand together is also a visible demonstration of the human family's aspiration to unity. We must all advance towards this single goal."

The Pope highlighted that dialogue between religions "is no longer simply an aspiration, it has become a reality, even if the road before us remains long." He also gave thanks to God for the gift of "reciprocal opening" between the Catholic Church and Judaism and for the "significant fruits (that have) also blossomed on the path towards encounter with Islam, with oriental religions and with the great cultures of the modern world."

"At the start of the new millennium," concludes John Paul II, "we must not drag our feet, if anything we must move with ever greater speed along this hopeful path."

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