Vatican City: Cardinal George Jakob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, has called fraternity the only lasting foundation for a peaceful and sustainable future, saying that the Christian response to war must be a humanity that prays, walks together and chooses disarmament.
He made the remarks on 7 October at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome, during an event marking 40 years since the historic World Day of Prayer for Peace held in Assisi in 1986. The meeting was organised by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality as part of a series titled “The Spirit of Assisi: Between Memory and Prophecy.” Pasted text
Cardinal Koovakad reflected on the connection between the 1986 meeting convened by Pope St John Paul II and Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. He said both point to the conviction that the human person is greater than any power that seeks to diminish human dignity.
He noted that the challenge facing the world has changed since 1986, but the need for peace remains. At that time, the world was divided by the logic of opposing blocs and ideological conflict. Today, he said, the danger is that the logic of force, strengthened by technology and algorithms, could make war appear inevitable.
The Cardinal said the Christian response remains the same: people must pray, walk together and disarm themselves first. He rejected the idea that lasting peace can be built through a balance of terror, an arms race or technological power without responsibility.
The original Day of Prayer for Peace took place in Assisi on 27 October 1986, when around 160 religious leaders gathered from different Christian denominations and other religious traditions. The meeting came during a period when Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain and the United Nations had declared 1986 the International Year of Peace.
Pope St John Paul II chose Assisi because of its connection with St Francis, who is recognised as a figure of peace and brotherhood across religious traditions. The Pope described the gathering not as a diplomatic summit but as a pilgrimage, a fast and a prayer.
The participants did not combine their religious rites. Instead, each community prayed according to its own tradition while the others listened in silence. Cardinal Koovakad said this demonstrated that interreligious dialogue does not require people to erase their differences. Rather, it allows people to remain rooted in their own faith while seeking peace together. Pasted text
He connected this approach with the principle of “maximum identity and maximum dialogue” expressed in the recent note A Journey of Hope, which reflects on 60 years of interreligious dialogue and fraternity in the light of Nostra aetate.
The Spirit of Assisi has continued through later meetings organised by different Popes. St John Paul II returned to the initiative in 2002 following the attacks of 11 September 2001. Pope Benedict XVI organised meetings in 2006 and 2011, including one that welcomed non believers, while Pope Francis renewed the gathering in 2016.
Pope Francis also developed the vision of fraternity through the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity, signed with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar in Abu Dhabi, and through his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti, which he signed in Assisi at the tomb of St Francis.
Cardinal Koovakad said Pope Leo XIV has continued this path. During a peace meeting at the Colosseum in Rome in October 2025, the Pope warned against the misuse of religion to justify violence and called for a culture of reconciliation.
He has also reaffirmed the rejection of using religion or the name of God to justify violence in his Joint Declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul.
The Cardinal said Magnifica Humanitas should also be understood within this continuing tradition. He stressed that the encyclical is not simply a document about artificial intelligence but fundamentally a text about the human person.
The encyclical warns about the renewed presentation of war as an instrument of international policy and the growing importance of military arsenals and nuclear deterrence in discussions about security.
Cardinal Koovakad said this makes the message of Assisi relevant today. “Forty years later, Assisi is not a memory: it is an urgency,” he said.
The encyclical also places the 1986 meeting within the Church’s teaching as a way of understanding the challenges of the present. It rejects the use of religion to create hatred and condemns attempts to use the name of God to legitimise terrorism, violence or war.
Pope Leo XIV has called for continued prayer and action for peace. Cardinal Koovakad stressed that these two responsibilities cannot be separated.
The Cardinal also highlighted the relationship between diversity and unity. He said the Spirit of Assisi does not seek to create a single world religion or erase differences between beliefs. Instead, people can remain faithful to their own traditions while working together for peace.
He connected this idea with Pentecost, which Pope Leo recalled during an address at UNESCO on 25 September 2026, contrasting a unity based on shared diversity with the domination represented by the Tower of Babel.
Artificial intelligence adds a new dimension to the discussion. Cardinal Koovakad pointed to Pope Leo’s warning in Magnifica Humanitas that no algorithm can make war morally acceptable. Technology, he said, cannot remove the human reality and inhumanity of conflict, even if it can make violence faster and more impersonal. Pasted text
The Cardinal also looked ahead to Pope Leo XIV’s planned visit to Assisi from 25 to 27 October, 40 years after the historic prayer meeting. He said remembering the 1986 gathering must lead to action and hope.
For Cardinal Koovakad, Christian hope means remaining convinced that good is always possible and that no war has the final word.
He said the Franciscan University Antonianum has a particular responsibility to study and teach peace, while preparing young people to combine a strong identity with openness to others.
The “Spirit of Assisi: Between Memory and Prophecy” series will continue on 26 November 2026, when Sandra Migliore, professor at the University of Turin, will speak on “St Francis and Peace: Between History and Memory.”