ASSISI, Italy -- Saying religious leaders wanted to do their part to fend off "the dark clouds of terrorism, hatred (and) armed conflict," Pope John Paul II led an interreligious pilgrimage to Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis.

The winter sky above Assisi was leaden with thick clouds Jan. 24, but the pope and more than 200 religious leaders were protected from the cold wind and the threat of rain by a huge tarp and plastic sheeting that turned lower St. Francis Square into a tent.

Pope John Paul said he and other leaders of the world's religions share the anxiety of many of their faithful, but they also share a firm belief that God can grant the world peace.

"In times of greater anxiety about the fate of the world, we sense more clearly than ever the duty to commit ourselves personally to the defense and promotion of the fundamental good which is peace," he said, welcoming the leaders to Assisi.

The pope and his guests arrived in Assisi after a two-hour pilgrimage by train, a journey which began only 10 minutes later than scheduled with an "all aboard" at the Vatican's seldom-used train station.

Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox, as well as two other Orthodox patriarchs, representatives from 14 other Christian denominations and 11 other religions, accepted the pope's invitation to come to Assisi.

Pope John Paul offered a special greeting to Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, "the city so terribly affected by the tragic events of Sept. 11."

The cardinal told reporters on the train that the Assisi meeting was the pope's attempt "to bring various faiths together in order to alert the world to the need to put an end to the conflict that is troubling us right now."

In his morning address, the pope said, "We are here as representatives of different religions to examine ourselves before God concerning our commitment to peace, to ask him for this gift, to bear witness to our shared longing for a world of greater justice and solidarity."

Listening to one another is the first step in peacemaking, he said, because it "serves to scatter the shadows of suspicion and misunderstanding."

Pope John Paul and the other leaders who spoke at the morning session in Assisi repeatedly underlined the need for justice and the respect of human rights in building peace.

"It cannot be forgotten that situations of oppression and exclusion are often at the source of violence and terrorism," he said.

But religious leaders also know that forgiveness is part of peacemaking because it alone "heals the wounds of the heart and fully restores damaged human relations," the pope said.

Pope John Paul also said it was essential that the religious leaders clearly proclaim their common conviction that "whoever uses religion to foment violence contradicts religion's deepest and truest inspiration."

"Now is the time to overcome decisively those temptations to hostility which have not been lacking in the religious history of humanity," he said.

Patriarch Bartholomew, the first of 11 religious leaders to speak, told the gathering, "Today, once more, following horrendous holocausts and the slaughter of so many innocent victims, it is our duty to acknowledge the spiritual conditions for peace on earth, and not merely economic or other factors.

"These conditions include righteousness and respect for the sacredness of the human person, for one's neighbor and for his freedom and dignity," the patriarch said.

"We must repent and turn back to God in full awareness of his holy will and in obedience to it. Only then will God hear our prayers and grant us and all mankind true peace on earth," he said.

Chief Amadou Gasseto, who described himself as the high priest of followers of Avelekete Vodoo in Benin, echoed the patriarch's point about personal behavior and its decisive role in creating peace or conflict.

"We must begin by achieving mastery over ourselves so as not to speak words which lead to feelings of opposition, exclusion or violence," he said. "It is good to invite people every year to a change of heart by renouncing hatred, violence and injustice."

Rabbi Israel Singer, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, followed little of his prepared text, instead telling Pope John Paul, "Only you can make this happen," and telling the other leaders that only by fostering commitments to peace among their faithful can religions turn their potential for peacemaking into a concrete reality.

"You should tell your people and we should tell ours, all of us -- all of us -- to question whether land or places are more important than people's lives and, until we learn to do that, there will be no peace,'' the rabbi said.

History, he said, has shown that despite beautiful religious exhortations to be a force of peace, "the reality has been that, in practice, religions have served to foment scores of horrendous and bloody wars."

"We must remember that in no religion are we commanded to kill indiscriminately, and those who have taught otherwise have done so by hijacking and distorting the religions in whose name they speak," he said.

Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi of al-Azhar University in Egypt and spiritual leader of the world's Sunni Muslims sent a message to the gathering thanking the pope for his initiative and explaining Islam's fidelity to God the creator of all humanity, its precept of respect for "all monotheistic religions revealed by God" and its emphasis on moral values.

"All the monotheistic religions preach that the human beings should support law and justice, restoring the legitimate proprietors to their rights," he said, making his reference to tensions in the Holy Land obvious by thanking the Vatican for its "honorable support of the Palestinian people."

After sharing the "testimonies for peace," Pope John Paul and Patriarch Bartholomew led the Christians from 17 Orthodox churches and 14 Anglican and Protestant communities into the lower basilica for an ecumenical prayer service.

Franciscan friars escorted members of the 11 other religions into their huge convent complex where, in separate places around the cloistered courtyard, each faith held its own prayer service: the Zoroastrians lighting a fire in the courtyard; the Muslims kneeling on rugs in the annex to the Friar Elijah Chapel, built in 1230.

The Franciscans had removed crucifixes and everything else from the vaulted rooms, except for a large wood sculpture of the Nativity firmly attached to the wall of the room used by the Buddhists.

Hundreds of people, mainly Italian religious and lay people, filled the back of the tent to pray with the leaders. Some waved huge rainbow-colored banners that read, "Peace!" and chanted in Italian, "John Paul!"

Standing at the edge of the crowd, a priest from majority-Muslim Sudan watched the enthusiasm with a somber expression on his face.

"This shows the possibility of bringing different religions together," Father Romeo Todo said, "but it is a far cry from the reality on the ground."