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November 24, 2001
From The Record, Louisville, KY 11/22/01
Pope calls for fasting and prayer
By John Thavis, Catholic News Service
In response to the growing threat of global terrorism and other conflicts, Pope John Paul II called for a church-wide day of fasting in December and a prayer gathering of Christian and nonChristian leaders in January.
The pope said the interfaith meeting, to take place Jan. 24 in the Italian pilgrimage town of Assisi, would allow Christians and Muslims to proclaim to the world that religion can never be used to justify violence.
The Dec. 14 day of fasting among Catholics also was to be marked by prayers for peace. The pope suggested that in addition to limiting their food and drink on that day, Catholics find ways to transform their sacrifice into a contribution to the victims of terrorism and war.
The pope announced the two initiatives during his Sunday midday prayer at the Vatican Nov. 18. He said he was convinced that today's worried world "needs to see gestures of peace and hear words of hope.
Addressing a crowd from his window above St. Peter's Square, the pope spoke about the tensions and sufferings that have worried many people around the world.
He cited the thousands of innocent victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. In an apparent reference to the continued military campaign in Afghanistan, he said that "innumerable people have been forced to leave their homes to confront the unknown and sometimes to meet a cruel death," while "women, elderly and children risk dying of cold and hunger."
The prayers raised to heaven should be stronger today, the pope said, because the threats to peace seem greater, he said.
The Dec. 14 day of fasting falls on a Friday, the church's traditional day for fasting and abstinence. The pope asked Catholics worldwide to "pray with fervor to God that he grant the world a stable peace based on justice and help people find adequate solutions to the many conflicts that torment,the world."
The pope did not provide details of the Jan. 24 encounter in Assisi, the central Italian birthplace of St. >Francis. Vatican officials said the pope was expected to preside personally over the prayer meeting there, as he did in 1986, when he convened a similar "prayer for peace" gathering in Assisi.