The International Day of Peace is Wednesday, Sept. 21. Viterbo campus ministry invites the campus community to an outdoor community Taize prayer service that emphasizes Pope Francis’ message of Peace. The service will be held near Dancing Francis in Assisi Courtyard at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21. Everyone is invited to come together in prayer and fellowship for peace in the world and community. People attending are welcome to bring blankets or chairs on which to sit. Some provided chairs will also be available.

In his World Day of Peace letter, Pope Francis writes: “In the spirit of the Jubilee of Mercy…I would like to make a three-fold appeal to the leaders of nations:  to refrain from drawing other peoples into conflicts or wars which destroy not only their material, cultural and social legacy but also—and in the long term—their moral and spiritual integrity; to forgive or manage in a sustainable way the international debt of poorer nations; to adopt policies of cooperation, which, instead of bowing before the dictatorship of certain ideologies, will respect the values of local populations and, in any case, not prove detrimental to the fundamental and inalienable right to life of the unborn…”