A solemn Mass at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki, near Krakow, and The Angelus prayer, said with Pope Benedict XVI present through a satellite connection, inaugurated the International Congress for Peace, entitled "People and Religions" on Sunday in Krakow.

 
Joanna Najfeld reports

 
Over five hundred representatives of different religions, together with politicians and scholars have arrived to Krakow, at the invitation of the Rome-based St. Egidio community and the Krakow metropolitan and friend of John Paul II, cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz. The meeting is organized as a kind of a follow-up to John Paul II's prayer in Assissi in 1986 with representatives of different world religions and non-Catholic Christian communities from all over the globe, said Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz.

 
Prayers, services and discussion panels on the problems of contemporary world and the role of religion in solving them, are all on the agenda of the Congress. During one discussion panel, devoted to the memory of victims of German Nazi death camp Auschwitz, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz has received the Jan Karski Award. Jan Karski, who died 9 years ago, had been a courier during World War Two and he brought the news of the German Nazi Holocaust of Jews to New York. On Tuesady, participants of the Congress will visit the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, to hold a march and a memorial ceremony there. In the afternoon, they will announce a common "Appeal for Peace".

More information about the events is available at santegidio.com.

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