India, Sept. 28 -- Introduction The contemporary crisis of peace is not merely a crisis of weapons; it is also a crisis of desire. Wars emerge from territorial ambitions, economic interests, ideological absolutism and power struggles. At a deeper level, however, they reveal a human tendency to possess, control and dominate. St Francis of Assisi proposes a radically different anthropology: the human person becomes capable of peace when he or she becomes free from the need to possess the other or others'.

This is why Pope Leo XIV's prayer to St Francis is remarkably relevant. On the occasion of the eighth centenary of St Francis' Transitus, the Pope prays: "Saint Francis, our Brother... You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misun...