From 26 to 28 October, SGI representatives took part in the International Meeting for Peace “Daring Peace,” organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome.

On 28 October, a panel discussion titled “Justice Does Not Kill: Abolishing the Death Penalty” was held, moderated by Mario Marazziti of the Community of Sant’Egidio, cofounder of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, where SGI representative and Professor Enza Pellecchia of the University of Pisa spoke on the death penalty from the Buddhist perspective of the dignity of life. Other speakers included the Rev. Ryuji Furukawa of the Seimeizan Schweitzer Temple in Kumamoto, Japan, and Debra Wallace-Padgett, President of the World Methodist Council (WMC).

On 27 October, Hirotsugu Terasaki, Soka Gakkai Vice President, and Alberto Aprea, President of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai, met in Rome with Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva.

Read Enza Pellecchia’s full speech in Italian and Japanese here.