The ecumenical commitment is for the Community of Sant’Egidio an experience made of friendship, prayer and search for a worldwide Christian unity. On the first International Day of Prayer for Peace called by Pope John Paul II in 1986, the Community was particularly touched by the Papal invitation to: “keep spreading the message of Peace flourished from the Spirit of Assisi”. Since then, the Community promoted an yearly Pilgrimage of Peace in different cities of Europe and across the Mediterranean, while building friendly relationships among representatives of different faiths and cultures.
This year, a grand appeal spread to come out from behind our fences, from behind borders that became prisons and barriers, to rediscover the world as "a common home." The religious leaders who had come from all over the world to Madrid for the international meeting of Sant'Egidio in the 'spirit of Assisi' titled 'Peace with No Borders', gave voice to the "silent lamentations and cries of those who are excluded of wellbeing, as if they weren't men and women like us." And above all those who are victims of too many wars that are still ongoing in our world. From Madrid there was also a strong 'no' that arose against religious extremism and against the classic temptation of believing that big problems can be solved on their own.