On 19 October 2015, many bishops and cardinals participating in the Synod on the Family gathered in Santa Maria Basilica, Trastevere, Rome, for a prayer service.
Guided by Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, the Bishop of Bogota, Colombia, they prayed for peace throughout the world and in a special way for peace in Colombia. Accompanied by hymns, they lit candles in remembrance of the numerous countries currently torn by war–many of them the homelands of the bishops themselves.
Once a month, the St. Egidio community of Rome holds a Prayer Service for Peace in Santa Maria Basilica. This geographical prayer liturgy embraces every place of suffering on earth and is carried out in union with all the St. Egidio communities scattered throughout out the world.