I would like to express, on behalf of the Community of Sant'Egidio, our joy for being here, together with the Church of Lisbon and her Patriarch whom I thank heartily for this experience of brotherhood and communal work. I'm also particularly glad to greet and thank for their presence our brothers and sisters, representatives of many Christian Churches coming from all over the world.

To get together, bound by mutual love and brotherhood to pray and work together for peace, is something that doesn't happen every day.

What drew us here is a path of prayer, friendship and dialogue.

This path is rooted in the historical World Day of Prayer for Peace, summoned by John Paul II, fourteen years ago in Assisi.

Since then the Community of Sant'Egidio has felt the joy and the responsibility to continue that same "Spirit of Assisi" which has grown and spread all over Europe, from Brussels to Milan, from Venice to Warsaw, from Rome to Malta and Bucharest, and finally, to Lisbon. Through your presence the whole world is here today, with its expectations and its challenges.

We are all pilgrims in search of peace. Ours is a ecumenical pathway which, as John Paul II said several times, "is irreversible".

As we enter this Third Millennium, this is a responsibility we cannot evade before the world.

"Oceans of Peace, religions and cultures in dialogue": this is the demanding title that gathers us here to pray and build a more human world together. The Community of Sant'Egidio is willingly and unconditionally committed to this path.

May our prayer and friendship become the daily commitment of our communities. And may the time come soon when the hope to pray together around one chalice and one altar comes true.

Chiara Turrini