POPE
FRANCIS
INTERRELIGIOUS GENERAL AUDIENCE ON
THE OCCASION OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROMULGATION OF THE CONCILIAR DECLARATION
"NOSTRA AETATE"
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
At the General Audiences there
are often people or groups who belong to other religions; but today this
presence is of particular importance, because we can remember together the 50th
anniversary of the Declaration of the Second Vatican Council Nostra Aetate on
the Relation of the Catholic Church to Non-Christian Religions. This subject
was dear to the heart of Bl. Pope Paul VI, who on the Feast of Pentecost the
year before the close of the Council, had established the Secretariat
for non-Christians, today called the Pontifical Council
for Interreligious Dialogue. For this reason I express my
gratitude and my warm welcome to the people and groups of various religions,
who today have wished to attend, especially to those who have come from afar.
The Second Vatican Council was
an extraordinary time of reflection, dialogue and prayer which aimed to renew
the gaze of the Catholic Church on herself and on the world. A reading of the
signs of the times in view of an update oriented by a twofold faithfulness:
faithfulness to the ecclesial tradition and faithfulness to the history of the
men and women of our time. In fact God, who revealed himself in creation and in
history, who spoke through the prophets and comprehensively through his Son
made man (cf. Heb 1:1), speaks to the heart and to the spirit of every human
being who seeks the truth and how to practice it.
The message of the Declaration Nostra Aetate is
always timely. Let us briefly recall a few of its points:
— the growing interdependence
of peoples (cf. n. 1);
— the human search for the
meaning of life, of suffering, of death, questions which always accompany our
journey (cf. n. 1);
— the common origin and
the common destiny of humanity (cf. n. 1);
— the uniqueness of the
human family (cf. n. 1.);
— religions as the search for
God or of the Absolute, within our various ethnicities and cultures (cf. n. 1);
— the benevolent and
attentive gaze of the Church on religions: she rejects nothing that is
beautiful and true in them (cf. n. 2);
— the Church regards with
esteem the believers of all religions, appreciating their spiritual and moral
commitment (cf. n. 3);
— the Church, open to dialogue
with all, is at the same time faithful to the truths in which she believes,
beginning with the truth that the salvation offered to everyone has its origin
in Jesus, the One Saviour, and that the Holy Spirit is at work, as a font of
peace and love.
There have been so many
events, initiatives, institutional or personal relationships with the
non-Christian religions in these last 50 years, that it is difficult to recall
them all. A particularly meaningful event was the meeting in
Assisi on 27 October 1986. It was willed and sponsored
by St John Paul II, who the year before, thus 30 years ago, addressing the
Muslim youth in Casablanca, hoped that all believers in God would favour
friendship and unity between men and peoples (19 August 1985). The flame, lit
in Assisi, has spread throughout the world and is a permanent sign of hope.
Deserving of special gratitude to God is the veritable transformation of
Christian-Jewish relations in these 50 years. Indifference and opposition have
changed into cooperation and benevolence. From enemies and strangers we have
become friends and brothers. The Council, with the Declaration Nostra Aetate,
has indicated the way: “yes” to rediscovering Christianity’s Jewish roots; “no”
to every form of anti-Semitism and blame for every wrong, discrimination and
persecution deriving from it. Knowledge, respect and esteem for one another are
the way. Indeed, if this applies in a particular way to relations with Jews, it
likewise applies to relationships with other religions as well. I am thinking
in particular of Muslims, who — as the Council recalls — “worship God, who is
one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and
earth, who has also spoken to men” (Nostra Aetate,
n. 3). They acknowledge Abraham’s paternity, venerate Jesus as a prophet,
honour his virgin Mother, Mary, await the day of judgment, and practice prayer,
almsgiving and fasting (cf. ibid.).
The dialogue that we need
cannot but be open and respectful, and thus prove fruitful. Mutual respect is
the condition and, at the same time, the aim of interreligious dialogue:
respecting others’ right to life, to physical integrity, to fundamental
freedoms, namely freedom of conscience, of thought, of expression and of
religion.
The world, looking to us
believers, exhorts us to cooperate amongst ourselves and with the men and women
of good will who profess no religion, asking us for effective responses
regarding numerous issues: peace, hunger, the poverty that afflicts millions of
people, the environmental crisis, violence, especially that committed in the
name of religion, corruption, moral decay, the crisis of the family, of the
economy, of finance, and especially of hope. We believers have no recipe for
these problems, but we have one great resource: prayer. We believers pray. We
must pray. Prayer is our treasure, from which we draw according to our
respective traditions, to request the gifts that humanity longs for.
Because of violence and
terrorism an attitude of suspicion or even condemnation of religions has
spread. In reality, although no religion is immune to the risk of deviations of
a fundamentalist or extremist nature in individuals or groups (cf. Address to the
United States Congress, 24 September 2015), it is
necessary to look to the positive values that religions live and propound, and
that are sources of hope. It is a matter of raising our gaze in order to go
further. Dialogue based on confident respect can bring seeds of good that in
their turn may bud into friendship and cooperation in many fields, especially
in service to the poor, to the least, to the elderly, through welcoming
migrants, and attention to those who are excluded. We can walk together taking
care of one another and of creation. All believers of every religion. Together
we can praise the Creator for giving us the garden of the world to till and
keep as a common good, and we can achieve shared plans to overcome poverty and
to ensure to every man and woman the conditions for a dignified life.
The Extraordinary Jubilee
Year of Mercy, which is before us, is a
propitious occasion to work together in the field of the works of charity. In
this field, where compassion counts above all else, we may be joined by many
people who are not believers or who are in search of God and of the Truth,
people who place at the centre the face of another person, in particular the
face of a needy brother or sister. The mercy to which we are called embraces
all of creation, which God entrusted to us so that we keep it, not exploit it or
worse still, destroy it. We must always seek to leave the world better than we
found it (cf. Encyclical Laudato Si’,
n. 194), beginning with the environment in which we live, and the small
gestures of our daily life.
Dear brothers and sisters, as
for the future of interreligious dialogue, the first thing we have to do is
pray, and pray for one another: we are brothers and sisters! Without the Lord,
nothing is possible; with Him, everything becomes so! May our prayer — each one
according to his or her own tradition — adhere fully to the will of God, who
wants all men and women to recognize they are brothers and sisters and live as
such, forming the great human family in the harmony of diversity.
Special
greetings:
I address a cordial welcome to
Italian-speaking pilgrims.
On the Feast Day of Sts Simon
and Jude, I hope that the memory of the Apostles, first witnesses of the Gospel,
may increase faith and encourage charity.
I offer a special thought to young
people, to the sick and to newlyweds. At the
end of the month of October let us invoke Mary, Mother of Jesus. Dear young
people, learn to pray to her with the simple and effective prayer of the
Rosary; dear sick people, may Our Lady be your support in the trial
of pain; dear newlyweds, emulate her love for God and for brothers
and sisters.
Now, to conclude this
Audience, I invite everyone, each one on his or her own, to pray in silence.
May each one do so according to his or her own religious tradition. Let us ask
the Lord to make us more brotherly and sisterly among ourselves, and more ready
to serve our needier brothers and sisters. Let us pray in silence.
[Silent prayer]
And may God bless us, every
one!
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