The UNESCO Chair John XXIII for Religious Pluralism and Peace was proposed by Prof. Dr. Pier Ugo Calzolari, Rector of the University of Bologna (2000-2009), Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Alberigo and Card. Achille Silvestrini. The Chair was established in 2003 at the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and has its seat at the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies. Since 2009 it is entrusted to Prof. Dr. Alberto Melloni, successor of late Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Alberigo in directing the Foundation.

The UNESCO Chair offers a program of lectures to the great masters of spiritual life and leaders of a peaceful encounter between diversities (Timothy Radcliffe, Raimón Panikkar, Yanli Ren, Mordechai Lewy, Romano Prodi, Haim Baharier, Valerio Onida, Alberto Sermoneta, Carlo Caffarra, Giuliano Amato) and has extended invitations also to figures of the Middle East, Russia, China, Latin America and Africa encourages research in the field of religious pluralism and peace with a strong emphasis on junior fellows supports the research on Jewish-Christian relations in the twentieth century, on the history of voluntary martyrdom, on the ermeneutics of sacred texts, on the relations between China and Christianity, and on Islamic theology and philosophy promotes academic study visits between Bologna and China, the Arab world, USA, Russia, Australia, Africa and Latin America manages international editorial projects participates in initiatives as the Ara Pacis Initiative and the birth of a universal body as the Council for Dignity, Forgiveness, Justice and Reconciliation, which, in virtue of the personalities who compose it, can obtain the necessary consent from the parties in war and assist governments and institutions ethically, morally, culturally and pedagogically, guaranteeing that respect, comprehension and dialogue will be constitutive parts of the peace processes and that the human dimension of peace will be given the necessary emphasis It is part of the Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Community of UNESCO Chairs.