Crux

It is the 40th anniversary of one of the most controversial meetings held by Pope St. John Paul II, and Pope Leo XIV is marking it by walking through the doors of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The Vatican announced on Tuesday that the pontiff will visit Assisi, where his canonized predecessor held the World Day of Prayer for Peace in October 1986, which brought together leaders of different religions. Pope Leo will attend on Oct. 27, the final day of the 2026 Meeting that opens on Oct. 25 under the theme, “Disarmed and Disarming Peace,” words the pontiff used during his inaugural address from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on May 8, 2025. Organized by the Sant’Egidio community, the meeting brings together 384 representatives from 53 countries. Leo will pray with the Christian community in the Lower Basilica of Saint Francis, with Patriarch Bartholomew offering a meditation. The pope will then give a peace message in the piazza. RELATED: Did the pope change the game on interreligious dialogue? The meeting 40 years ago drew criticism from more conservative Catholics, who accused it of religious indifferentism – treating all religions as equally valid – and occasionally accused even the sainted pontiff who called the meeting of relativism about truth itself. The then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who didn’t attend the meeting, later wrote in his 2003 book Truth and Tolerance that in interreligious gatherings there were “undeniable dangers, and it is indisputable that the Assisi meetings, especially in 1986, were misinterpreted by many people.” Ratzinger was elected pope two years later, becoming Pope Benedict XVI. In his 2006 letter marking the 20th anniversary of the meeting, Benedict said, “[I]t is important not to forget the attention paid on that occasion to ensuring that the interreligious Prayer Meeting did not lend itself to syncretist interpretations founded on a relativistic concept.” This was especially important, Benedict said, in order not to “misinterpret the meaning of what John Paul II wanted to achieve in 1986 and what, to use his own words, he habitually called the ‘spirit of Assisi’.” “Like us Christians,” Benedict also wrote in the letter, “[other members of other religions] know that in prayer it is possible to have a special experience of God and to draw from it effective incentives for dedication to the cause of peace.” Benedict also said it was important to avoid an inappropriate confusion. “The convergence of differences must not convey an impression of surrendering to that relativism which denies the meaning of truth itself and the possibility of attaining it,” Benedict wrrote. Quotes from the same 2006 letter also appeared in the Sep. 16, 2026, Note issued by the cardinal prefects of three Vatican Dicasteries marking the 60th anniversary of Vatican II’s Conciliar Declaration, Nostra Aetate, which radically reframed the Catholic Church’s approach to interreligious dialogue. “‘We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he is in the image of God,’ because faith in God can only encourage relationships of universal fraternity among all human beings,” the Note says. The Note says interreligious dialogue is not a matter of founding one great world religion in which all beliefs are “flattened.” “Rather, it is a matter of building a fraternal society capable of accepting differences,” says Paragraph 53. “Dialogue does not consist merely in presenting one’s own doctrines or comparing worldviews,” the paragraph continues. “Today, in the face of those who foment divisions and stir up conflicts, believers of different traditions—and above all their leaders—while remaining aware of their irreducible differences, are called to seek, with clarity and hope, the conditions necessary for peaceful coexistence.” However, the document also affirms abandoning “the logic of defensiveness, hostility, or conquest” in order to adopt an attitude that is “open, benevolent, and courageous.” “The defensive entrenchment in one’s own position and the view that proselytism is the only way to engage with the other no longer make sense in a world that increasingly resembles an interconnected and constantly evolving global village,” reads paragraph 54. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández of Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Kurt Koch of Promoting Christian Unity (which also deals with relations with Jews), and Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad of Interreligious Dialogue signed the Note, as did the cardinal-prefects’ secretaries. Pope Leo’s signature was not attached, but he approved the document Ex audientia die on June 22 and ordered its publication. It has strong doctrinal weight, and it is interesting that it came out just over a month before the meeting in Assisi. This does not mean Pope Leo is somehow “against” the Spirit of Assisi. At the Colosseum last October, he said 1986 meeting “marked a turning point in interfaith relations” and that the Church embraces “the challenge of Assisi.” The Note – signed by the Vatican’s doctrine chief and approved by the Pope – came out about six weeks before the 2026 Assisi gathering, and it offers a guide to how the Vatican wants the meeting read, especially paragraph 22: Dialogue, therefore, presupposes a clear awareness of one’s own religious and cultural identity, together with a genuine openness to otherness, which is an indispensable condition for coexistence within pluralistic societies. It must be free of ambiguity, avoiding relativism and syncretism, with the fullest possible affirmation of identity and the fullest possible commitment to dialogue. The program itself reflects that balance: Leo will pray with fellow Christians in the Lower Basilica before joining the other religious leaders in the piazza. Pope Leo is going to Assisi with the goals of Pope St. John Paul II, and it appears he will be carrying Benedict XVI’s concern with him, too. Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome

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