Following the common lunch in the Sacred Convent of the Franciscans in Assisi, at approximately 15:15, the Pope met individually His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople; His Holiness Ignatius Ephrem II, Patriarch of Antioch Syrian Orthodox His Grace Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Church of England; Professor Zygmut Bauman, sociologist and philosopher (Poland); Professor Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the Ulema Council, (Indonesia); Chief Rabbi David Rosen (Israel).

At 16:00, the representatives of different religions prayed for peace in different places of Assisi. All Christians gathered in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis for an Ecumenical prayer during which all the countries of war are named and a candle is let for each country. The Holy Father then offers the following meditation:
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As leaders of dozens of religions gathered in Assisi for dialogue and prayers for peace, they honored Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as an exemplar of one who is so deeply rooted in his own religious tradition that he can reach out to others without fear.

Jewish, Anglican and Catholic leaders paid tribute to Patriarch Bartholomew as he was about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his enthronement as spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Pope Francis was scheduled to participate in a celebratory luncheon for the patriarch Sept. 20 in Assisi.

The Assisi celebrations Sept. 18-20 were organized by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio, the Diocese of Assisi and the Franciscan friars.
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Of all the challenges faced by the Vatican in organizing the 25th anniversary of the historic interreligious gathering in Assisi in 1986, the hardest was how to make it newsworthy. The 176 delegates–representing, said the Vatican, “not only the world’s religions, but all people of good will, everyone seeking the truth”–whom Pope Benedict XVI led by train from Rome to the town of St Francis were comprehensive in their diversity. But if the Christian delegations on October 27 included the top men–Pope Benedict himself, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I–the delegates from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others included no obvious celebrities, or even organizations whose presence might have raised an eyebrow. Even the inclusion of four non-believers failed to create a stir, for it was not Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens standing with the pope but little-known academic philosophers.
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