All faiths of Poland come together in prayer for peace
The late Pope John Paul II is still very popular in his home country Poland. Photo AFP, Janek Skarzynski
Central Europe
The Christian Theological Academy in the Polish capital Warsaw has organised an interreligious prayer for peace. People of all faith will be welcome. Not only Catholics and Protestants will attend, but also Jews and Muslims.
Each religious community will speak a prayer in Polish, and then a selected fragment of Psalm 62: "Do not trust in violence or deceive yourself in vain with robbery" in its own language: Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, Old Church Slavonic and Polish.
It's the Roman Catholic Church in Poland that takes the spiritual responsibility for the ecumenical prayer. The meeting will be held on October 27th, when there is always an interreligious meeting in Assisi. That Assisi Day of Prayer was sometimes attended by popes as well. John Paul II organised the event for the first time in 1986, Polish media report.
The so-called Centre organises the meeting in Warsaw for the Thought of John Paul II. John Paul was the pope from Poland, and he is still very popular in his home country.
According to the centre, a "sign of unity and a common concern for peace" is necessary. In 1986 the pope said: "The challenge of peace, which today faces every human conscience, exceeds religious differences."
The event will be held under the patronage of the Metropolitan of Warsaw, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz. Also, other faith groups will be present, as the bishop of the Old Catholic Church, the Orthodox Archbishop Sawa, the Lutheran Church, and the Jewish Rabbi Michael Schudrich. Imam Jabbar Koubaisy represents Islam. There will also be the Warsaw City Council representatives, writes Polskie Radio.
