June 2009

President Niwano Visits Headquarters of Saint Egidio in Rome

On June 13, President Nichiko Niwano visited the headquarters of the Community of Saint Egidio in Rome and conferred with Professor Andrea Riccardi, its founder; Professor Marco Impagliazzo, its president; Professor Alberto Quattrucci, its secretary-general; and Professor Agostino Giovagnoli, the director of its Asian department. The Community of Saint Egidio is the 16th recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize, in 1999.

During their conversation, Professor Riccardi thanked Rissho Kosei-kai for its financial support of the community's project to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and assist its patients in Mozambique. He said that the community and Rissho Kosei-kai shared a humanitarian spirit in which all people are considered brothers and sisters. He expressed delight that the two organizations have continued to deepen their friendship. Professor Impagliazzo then explained some of the community's other projects.

Together with the Italian Bishops Conference and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Community of Saint Egidio hosted the "Fourth Summit of Religious Leaders on the occasion of the G8 summit" in Rome. President Niwano mentioned that the Japanese Committee of the World Conference of Religions for Peace had cosponsored last year's summit of religious leaders in Sapporo, Japan. He said that in attending the recent religious summit, he had fulfilled his duty to pass the torch from the participants of past religious summits in Moscow and Cologne.

Before visiting Saint Egidio's headquarters, President Niwano also called at an elder care facility built in 2008 as one of the undertakings to commemorate the community's fortieth anniversary.

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