Catholics and Muslims prayed in Vatican City Wednesday for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and of every act of terrorism.

The prayers were a part of the first meeting of a new committee created by the United Arab Emirates for implementing the goals outlined in Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb’s joint statement on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi Feb. 4.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the committee chose to meet Sept. 11 as “a sign of the will to build life and fraternity where others sowed death and destruction.”

The committee is made up of seven members: two from the Roman curia and five members from the UAE and Egypt. The group selected Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, to be the committee president.

Bishop Ayuso one of 13 men selected by Pope Francis to be elevated to the rank of cardinal Oct. 5.

Pope Francis greeted the committee members Sept. 11 in Casa Santa Marta and gave each of them a copy of the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.”