The Pope received the participants of the plenary session of the Pontifical Interfaith Dialogue Dicastery. In his address to them, Francis looked back on Pentecost in 1964, when Pope Paul VI announced in his homily that a “Secretariat for non-Christians” was being established.
Inese Steinerte – Vatican
This secretariat predates the Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions, the Nostra aetate, and the encyclical Ecclesiam suam. This encyclical is considered a guide to dialogue in all its forms.
“How far the Holy Spirit has come in almost 60 years,” Francis said. He noted that globalization and the rapid growth of international communications make both universal and interreligious dialogue essential. The Pope welcomed the fact that the Pontifical Dicaster of Interfaith Dialogue, at a time when the whole Church wants to grow in synodality, is also addressing the topic of “Interfaith Dialogue and Coexistence” in its plenary session.
Francis regretted that our increasingly interconnected world is less fraternal and coexistent. On the contrary! He therefore called on the dicastery of the Pontifical Interreligious Dialogue, together with other believers, to develop in a fraternal way the search for God, perceiving members of other religions not in the abstract but in a concrete way – with their history, desires, wounds, dreams. The Pope has stated that this is the only way to bring together a world in which everyone can live in peace.
“Every man and every woman is like a part of a huge mosaic, which is already beautiful in itself, but together with other components in the fellowship of differences it forms an image,” said the pope. He pointed out that a friendly life unites people socially, but without colonizing each other and preserving his identity. In this respect, coexistence has a political significance as an alternative to social fragmentation and conflict.
Francis encouraged members of the Dictastation of the Pontifical Interreligious Dialogue to develop a spirit and style of coexistence with people of other religious traditions. “Let us remember that the Lord Jesus was brother with all, that He shared with the publicans and sinners without prejudice. He always served as a servant and faithful friend until the end of the meal. After the resurrection, He gives us the grace of universal coexistence. Living together is the word I want to leave you, “the pope said at the end of his speech.
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