Daring Peace

Daring Peace
Sant’Egidio, Diplomacy, and a World at War

A lecture by
Marco Impagliazzo
President, Community of Sant’Egidio

Respondent
Andrea Bartoli, Columbia University

In ENGLISH

“War is madness,” Pope Francis said in 2014 when visiting Redipuglia, the memorial to 100,000 Italian soldiers killed near Slovenia during WWI and then he continued: “We are in a Third World War in pieces.” Indeed, the painful experiences of war and violence are widespread and the world is at war. Prof. Marco Impagliazzo leads an original international actor, the Community of Sant’Egidio, that has been active in peacemaking for decades. He will argue that peace work must be framed as a daring enterprise, as a bold response to the established dynamics. It is necessary to dare peace in a moment in which war making seems to be the prevalent trend.

Started in Rome in 1968, Sant’Egidio is a movement of lay people, based on prayer, the poor, and peace. It is present in more than 70 countries worldwide. Its local communities are involved in activities and programs for the most vulnerable, aimed at rebuilding the human fabric of our often divided societies. Sant’Egidio has been involved in numerous mediations of peace, most notably the agreement of peace in Mozambique on October 4, 1992 and most recently in South Sudan.