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By Elizabeth Dias @elizabethjdiasSept. 07, 20132



Pope Francis prays in Saint Peter square at the Vatican on Sept. 7, 2013. Pope Francis has called for a global day of fasting and prayer on Saturday for peace in Syria and against any armed intervention.
Filippo Monteforte / AFP / Getty Images


Pope Francis isn’t eating much today—he’s fasting and praying for Syria, and hundreds of thousands of Christians across the globe are joining him.

Today, during a five-hour evening prayer service for Syria in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis challenged the tens of thousands gathered there to rethink approaches to conflict as the fighting in Syria escalates and as the United States and France contemplate a military strike.  “How many conflicts, how many wars have mocked our history?” he asked the faithful. “Even today we raise our hand against our brother…We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal we continue to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death.”

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The last time a Pope called a similar day of prayer and fasting was in 2003, when Pope John Paul II did the same before the Iraq war. The Vatican strongly opposed the US-led military actions in Iraq, and now, a decade later, Pope Francis continues to speak out against a potential military strike in the war-torn region.

The World Council of Churches, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and religious leaders around the world urged their followers to join the Pope’s call and spend Saturday in prayer. Catholics in Jerusalem met at the Church of Gesthemane. In Mumbai they gathered at the Cathedral of the Holy Name. A giant peace flag was also raised in Assisi, Italy, the hometown of Saint Francis, for whom Pope Francis is named.

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