23/03/2004

Book Compiles Papal Messages to Sant'Egidio

A new book on sale in Italy compiles John Paul II's "words of peace" to the Community of Sant'Egidio.

Author Jean-Dominique Durand said "Lo Spirito di Assisi" (The Spirit of Assisi) is "a contribution to the history of peace."

Indeed, peace has been at the heart of the Pope's messages to Sant'Egidio Community, especially since 1986, the year of the famous meeting of the great world religions in Assisi.

Every year since then, the Sant'Egidio Community proposes this "spirit of Assisi" in meetings held in key European cities, and John Paul II always sends a message for each of these occasions.

Durand is a professor of contemporary religious history at the University of Lyon in France. He has written several books on the religious factor in the making of Europe. "The Spirit of Assisi" was published by Sant'Egidio Community and Leonardo International.