(Vatican Radio) An invitation to hold their next meeting in Iran, a commitment to pursuing interfaith dialogue and to opening up hearts and minds to the “other” in the family, school and society. Those were some of the results of the Third Catholic-Muslim Summit organized December 2-4 by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to police chiefs and Church representatives from across the world gathered in London this week for a Conference aimed at developing strategies to combat human trafficking. The guiding principle of the so-called Santa Marta Group, which first met in the Pope’s residence here in the Vatican last April, is always to keep the welfare of trafficked victims at the heart of all law enforcement.
The conference, which takes place in London on December 5th and 6th is organised by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales together with the Metropolitan Police Service and the British Home Office. In his message to participants, the Pope says their efforts to combat trafficking and care for survivors “are especially important because of the hidden nature of this crime. We must never forget, nor may we ignore, the suffering of so many men, women and children whose human dignity is violated through this exploitation”.
The London conference comes just 3 days after an unprecedented gathering of faith leaders and other experts with Pope Francis here in the Vatican to sign a joint declaration against modern slavery. Among the participants in that encounter was Gary Haugen, founder and president of the Washington based International Justice Mission working to stop slavery, trafficking and other forms of violence and abuse. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the vital role faith leaders play in the struggle to bring an end to this scourge which the Pope described as ‘an absurd evil’ and ‘a crime against humanity’…
Listen:
Haugen says the International Justice Mission was founded to protect the poor from the everyday violence of forced labour, sexual abuse, police abuse and land theft. He says the organisation works to rescue individual victims and provide longerm restoration programmes, but also to bring criminals to justice and train local law enforcement officials about protection from exploitation….
Commenting on the Vatican meeting, Haugen says those religious leaders have tremendous influence across the world and they’re making clear that slavery is still a problem today…..the new Global Slavery Index, he notes, puts the figure at over 35 million people in slavery today and the leaders are saying that the moral imperative from our faith traditions is to make sure we don’t allow it to continue…
Talking about the practical consequences of the joint declaration, Haugen says the most important thing is to make sure that laws against trafficking are being enforced……he says it’s the role of believers, especially in the Christian tradition, of giving voice to the weakest and most vulnerable…
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) An invitation to hold their next meeting in Iran, a commitment to pursuing interfaith dialogue and to opening up hearts and minds to the “other” in the family, school and society. Those were some of the results of the Third Catholic-Muslim Summit organized December 2-4 by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The theme of the summit was “Christians and Muslims: Believers living in Society.”
Tracey McClure spoke with the Council’s President, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran as the summit wrapped up last night here in Rome.
Listen to the interview:
In addition to Cardinal Tauran, the three principal leaders of the Summit included, His Royal Highness El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan; Episcopalian Bishop John Bryson Chane, senior advisor on Interreligious Dialogue to the Washington National Cathedral; and Ayatollah Sayyed Prof. Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, Director of Islamic Studies at Iran’s Academy of Sciences.
Asked what made this conference different from the so many others which have taken place, Cardinal Tauran replied, “First of all because the participants were coming from all over the world, from the five continents. It was a very large representation. And of course, the topic, “Believers in Society” is a very attractive topic because of the situation [of conflict and persecution in countries like Syria and Iraq] and it is very important, while we have this barbarian actions [by Islamic extremists] on the one side, and on the other side, to see that if it is contagious, good is also contagious. So the text we have is a very substantial one and [we hope it] will lead to a more pacific world.”
Cardinal Tauran agreed that participants at the conference shared a degree of optimism regarding the progress of interfaith dialogue. “Yes indeed because you see for example, the Shia, for the first time, talked about the necessity of putting the sacred Scriptures in the framework of history. This is the beginning of hermeneutics – this is very new and very courageous, coming from Shia from Iran.”
The French Cardinal added, “Now we have practiced dialogue for many years – now we have to work together, hand by hand, and build something.”
Cardinal Tauran said he felt the latest summit achieved “the necessity to transmit values to the young generation: family, school, university and temples/churches. I think the future is the young people… we have been unable to transmit values [to them].”
Cardinal Tauran noted the participants discussed the need, too, to teach younger generations about the “facts” surrounding different faiths. In particular, he lamented the lack of instruction about world religions in European schools: “In France they tried to do it but the great difficulty was they tried to find teachers capable of teaching religions.”
Courses on Islam and other religions should also be integrated into the curricula of Catholic seminaries, he pointed out: “I was in Spain a year ago and asked 23 young seminarians ‘have you met a Muslim? Have you opened the Koran?’ So yes, I think this is very serious – to teach religious facts.”
“In the Cathedral of Strasburg the other morning, there was a group of young German adolescents – they were [looking at] a beautiful Christ [figure] in ivory from the 16 th century – and they said: it’s Spartacus, Spartacus!” he recalled, adding, “in the middle of the European continent so it shows the religious illiteracy!”
“So we have to teach because our faith has a content – it is not a myth. Jesus Christ lived in a precise place, in a certain time in history… so we have to [instruct young generations about] our faith and its content.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with members of the International Theological Commission, at the beginning of a new five-year mandate (quinquennium). Listen to Christopher Wells’ report: In his address, the Holy Father noted the mission of the Commission, “to study doctrinal problems of great importance, especially those which present new points of view,…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with members of the International Theological Commission, at the beginning of a new five-year mandate ( quinquennium ).
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
In his address, the Holy Father noted the mission of the Commission, “to study doctrinal problems of great importance, especially those which present new points of view, and in this way to offer its help to the Magisterium of the Church.” This mission, he said, requires not only “intellectual competence, but also spiritual dispositions.” Among those spiritual dispositions, the Pope said he wanted to draw particular attention to the importance of listening.
The theologian, he said, is first of all a believer who hears the word of God. But the theologian must also “humbly listen” to “‘what the Spirit says to the Churches’ through the diverse manifestations of the lived faith of the Church.” In particular, he noted the significantly greater presence of women on the Commission. “In virtue of their feminine genius,” he said, “female theologians are able to take up… certain unexplored aspects of the unfathomable mystery of Christ.” He invited the Commission “to draw greater profit from this specific contribution of women to the understanding of the faith.”
Pope Francis also called attention to the international character of the Commission, which he said “reflects the catholicity of the Church. “The diversity of points of view should enrich the catholicity without harming the unity,” he said. “The unity of Catholic theologians is born from their common reference to one sole faith in Christ and is nourished by the diversity of gifts of the Holy Spirit. From this foundation and in a healthy pluralism, various theological approaches, developed in different cultural contexts and with the diversity of the methods used, cannot ignore each other, but in theological dialogue ought to reciprocally enrich and correct one another.”
Concluding his address, the Holy Father looked to the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, “under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with all the resources of her feminine genius… has not ceased to enter ever more into ‘all truth.’” He prayed, “May the Madonna, the teacher of authentic theology, obtain for us, with her maternal prayer, that our charity “may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception.” Finally, before blessing the assembled theologians, Pope Francis led the group in the recitation of the “Hail Mary.”
(from Vatican Radio)…