The Toronto event on Aug. 6 in Nathan Phillips Square features paper lanterns carrying prayers for peace launched on the reflecting pool in front of City Hall.

In Japan Cardinal  Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, participated in an interfaith ceremony.

“God made man for life, for freedom and for happiness,” said Turkson. “And yet our destiny here on Earth, much of the time, seems to consist of suffering.”

The Catholic response is hope in the Resurrection, he said.

“May I invite each of us, and our faith communities, to honour the memory of Hiroshima by collaborating in solidarity to build real peace.”

As of May, 2013 there were 17,213 nuclear weapons stockpiled by nine countries, according to the American think tank Ploughshares Fund.