(Vatican Radio) “Citizenship is a question of pluralism, a question of recognizing the identity of the other on the basis of respect:” That’s what Jordan’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal has told Vatican Radio following an interfaith meeting in the Vatican on the theme “Shared values in Social and Political Life.”
The two day closed-door meeting 3-4 May was organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and included Christian and Muslim delegates. His Royal Highness, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Institute of Interfaith Studies (RIIFS), headed a delegation of men and women involved in interfaith dialogue.
RIIFS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization which offers a space for the interdisciplinary study of intercultural and interreligious issues with the aim of reducing tensions and promoting peace at regional and global levels.
Prince El Hassan was one of thirty members of RIIFS received in audience Wednesday by Pope Francis. In speaking to them, the Pope recalled “with great joy” his visit to Jordan and said the group’s work “is a task of construction” that comes at a time “in which we are accustomed to the destruction wrought by war.” And, he urged them to continue on the “journey” of dialogue “and of bringing people together” which “always helps us to construct.”
A journey of Interfaith dialogue
“I believe that rising to the higher values referred to by His Holiness Pope Francis on Wednesday is my expectation of this dialogue. To rise to constructive values …simply put. Broadly put: psychological and physical rebuilding of our mindset towards the issue which is an issue of territoriality, identity and migration worldwide as I see it, is the challenge that we face: how to look at human dignity without discrimination and without silos,” he said.
“What I mean by silos,” Prince El Hassan added, “is that there are international organizations that deal on a binary basis with this organization or that organization, with this group of beneficiaries, migrants, refugees, stateless persons – we’ve even now entered into the immoral reference to some groups of people as ‘un-people.’”
“And I think in this regard, stripping people of their nationality is not going to improve the chances of losing large numbers of young people who join radical groups simply because they feel they do not have any other option or because they feel that the incentives are the way they are. So I think that this dialogue – and we announced a decalogue of dialogue in 2014 in Amman – is actually achieving certain objectives. And among those objectives is the practical work being done by the monitoring facilities of academics who are looking at the Arab Christian and Muslim image vis-a-vis the world in which we live and correspondingly, asking those who are concerned with projecting the European concerns or the Western concerns: how can we meet in a middle ground whereby we look at liberties in the context of a good neighborhood policy on the one side, and the Eurasian policy on the other?”
Asked if enough is being done in the region to foster citizenship and diversity, His Royal Highness stressed:
“In the case of Jordan we were supposed to be 2 and a half million people in 1991. Today we are over 9 million people. We’ve had a war practically every decade since 1948, ’56, ’67, ’73 and the list goes on to include the Iraq wars and the Iraq-Iran war. And every war has meant that Jordan and Lebanon for example, have paid the price with the forced migration and of course before that, the Palestinian forced migration. So the question of citizenship is a question of pluralism, a question of recognizing the identity of the other on the basis of respect.”
“The question of identity is one of recognizing the other, recognizing that the Christian population is dwindling in the region as a whole which is quite alarming…” added the Prince.
Jordan shelters hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees
Jordan has generously offered refuge to hundreds of thousands of Syrians who fled the war in their country. Asked if the international community has assumed its fair share of the burden, Prince El Hassan said he looks “forward to the realization of the pledges and the delivery of those pledges as they were made in the [recent] London conference – on assisting the countries that have suffered the consequences of the Syrian debacle and the Syrian civil war.”
The 4 February 2016 conference set itself ambitious goals on education and economic opportunities to transform the lives of refugees caught up in the Syrian crisis – and to support the countries hosting them. Over US$ 11 billion was raised in pledges – $5.8 billion for 2016 and a further $5.4 billion for 2017-20.
“These consequences, I believe – whether in infrastructure, education, jobs, economy -should be looked at in terms of a regional stabilization plan. In that regard, I am quite impressed by the statement of [U.S.] Senator Lindsey Graham calling for a Marshall Plan. I hope he is taken seriously as indeed I hope that the Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF are taken seriously in their call for a stabilization fund. But to be pro-active, I think that a regional bank for reconstruction and development should be encouraged. I can’t understand why our region is the only region in the world where we don’t have a regional bank where we have to respond to the initiative taken by others beyond our region,” stated His Royal Highness.
“I think that a time may come when we begin to recognize refugees as they truly are: as victims rather than as perpetrators of violence. I think it’s too much to ask of the poorest countries in the region, the non-oil producing countries in particular, to bear the greatest burden of the folly of others.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday evening sent a video message to the 39th National Assembly of the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives.
In his remarks, the Holy Father recalled the advice he first gave them during a meeting on February 28, 2015 , in the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Pope Francis summarized those earlier remarks:
“Continue to be the motor that lifts and develops the weakest part of your local community and of civil society, especially by establishing companies to provide jobs; be leaders in creating new welfare solutions, as you are already doing; Manage the cooperatives truly cooperatively – that is, involving all; Endeavour to support, facilitate and encourage family life. With the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia I indicated a prospective of joy and responsibility, but the people and the families should not be left alone, and must harmonized work and family; Bring good means together with determination in order to accomplish good works. It takes creativity and generosity to capitalize your cooperatives and invest well; Counter the false cooperatives, because cooperatives must promote an economy of honesty; Participate actively in globalization in order to integrate – in the world – development, justice and peace.”
The Holy Father then told the participants that since that time “the drama, and often the tragedy, of migrants, terrorism without borders, and the global economic slowdown have made these words even more true.”
He told them it is their “origins which give you strength,” including their collaboration with the local church, and the ability to reach out to people in need.
“Beginning a business out of need is your talent,” Pope Francis said. “Maintain this richness, while you build a common perspective with other associations to make evident the value for every person of the true cooperative.”
He encouraged them to be “guided by the commitment to the common good” when deciding what programmes to pursue in the future.
“If the cooperative functions to build solidarity also among its members, it reinforces communal responsibility, the ability to recognize what the generosity of others can accomplish, as well as to accept the limits,” Pope Francis said.
The Holy Father said cooperatives build “fraternity,” and can be a “witness of how faith animates a concrete commitment” to humanity.
Pope Francis concluded by reminding the participants of the Holy Year of Mercy, and expressing his hope that the commitments taken up by the cooperatives become “an expression of mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says God loves each and every one of us, He is totally extraneous to the “throwaway culture” of today and like the good shepherd he does not want a single person to be lost.
Speaking on Wednesday at the weekly General Audience , Pope Francis continued his catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy reflecting on the parable of the Good Shepherd.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
He said that the Lord uses the image of the shepherd who leaves his flock to go in search of one lost sheep to express God’s closeness to sinners. He emphasized that God does not want even a single person to be lost and that in his infinite mercy, he is always ready to meet us wherever we are.
And reflecting on the “throwaway culture” of the contemporary world, the Pope said it is something that is totally foreign to God who would never “throw away” a single person.
“God loves all, he reaches out to every person: one by one! He knows nothing about ‘throwing away people’ because He is all about love and mercy” he said.
The example of the Good Shepherd, Pope Francis continued, also challenges us to go out in search of those in particular need of God’s mercy, especially those who have gone astray.
He said that Jesus teaches us that in his eyes there are no lost sheep, but only sheep needing to be found and that the joy which the Good Shepherd feels must also be the joy of the entire flock.
Continuing to reflect on the parable the Pope pointed out that the faithful must also resist the temptation to close themselves in the pen where there may be no ‘stink of sheep’ but the stuffiness of a closed and airless room.
“Christians, he said, must never be closed. Ever! We must not be closed within ourselves, or within small communities or parishes thinking we are ‘right’.
Christians, he said, are called to embrace the missionary spirit that takes them into the world to encounter others.
He said that for the Lord no one is definitely lost: “He looks for us up until the very last moment”.
Pope Francis concluded saying that we are all lost sheep who were found by the Lord’s mercy.
“No distance can keep the shepherd far from his sheep; no flock can afford to give up on a member” he said.
And he called us to rejoice in his merciful love, to bring that love to others and to join him in gathering all into the fold.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Ahead of his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with participants of a meeting between the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies of Amman and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The Fourth meeting between the two institutions had for its main topic the theme: “Shared values in social and political life: citizens and believers.”
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
In brief, off-the-cuff remarks, Pope Francis recalled his visit to Jordan in 2014, saying, “It is a beautiful memory that I carry with me.
He thanked those taking part in the colloquium, and told them that the work they are doing is “a work of construction.” Although in our days “we have become used to the destruction caused by wars, the work of dialogue, of rapprochement, helps us always to build.”
The Pope emphasized the importance of “dialogue” for work of this kind:
“Dialogue is going out of ourselves, with a word, to hear the word of the other. The two words meet, two thoughts meet. It is the first step of a journey. Following this meeting of the word, hearts meet and begin a dialogue of friendship, which ends with holding hands. Word, hearts, hands. It’s simple! A little child knows how to do it…”
Reminding his listeners that “we have a common Father: we are brothers,” Pope Francis encouraged the participants in the meeting to “go forward along this street, which is beautiful!”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis lamented on Tuesday that there are many following Christianity in a confused way, forgetting that Jesus is the only true path. He said these include the motionless or ‘mummified’ Christians, the vagabond and stubborn Christians and the Christians who stop half way along their journey. The Pope was speaking during his homily at morning Mass celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.
Taking his inspiration from the gospel reading where Jesus tells the Apostles that “I am the way,” Pope Francis reflected on the need for Christians to consistently follow Jesus and not get waylaid or blocked on their journey of faith. He said there are many different types of Christians who are following Jesus in a confused manner like the mummified Christian, the vagabond Christian, the stubborn Christian and the half way Christian.
Turning to an examination of these different types of Christians, the Pope pointed first to the Christian who doesn’t move or journey forward and who gives the idea, he said, of being like an (embalmed) mummy.
“Christians who stay still, who don’t go forward, are non-Christian Christians. We don’t know exactly what they are. They are slightly ‘paganized’ Christians: who are there, who stay still and don’t go forward in their Christian lives, who don’t make the Beatitudes bloom in their lives, who don’t do Works of mercy… they are motionless. Excuse me for saying it, but they are like an (embalmed) mummy, a spiritual mummy there. There are Christians who are ‘spiritual mummies,’ motionless, there. They don’t do evil but they don’t do good things.”
Moving on to a description of the stubborn Christian, the Pope said these types of Christians realize that they are taking the wrong direction but worst still they insist it’s the right path and don’t heed the voice of our Lord, telling them to turn back and take the correct path. The next category, he explained, are the vagabond Christians who travel here and there but doesn’t know where they are going.
“They are wanderers in the Christian life, vagabonds. During their life they turn here and there and thus lose the beauty of drawing close to Jesus in the Jesus’ life. They lose their way because they are constantly turning and often this turning is wrong and takes them to a dead end. Turning so many times, (the road) becomes a labyrinth and then they don’t know how to get out. They have lost that call from Jesus. They don’t have a compass to get out and they keep on turning and searching. There are other Christians who whilst journeying are seduced by the beauty of an object and they stop half way, fascinated by what they see, by some idea, a proposal or a landscape. And they stop! Christian life is not a fascination: it’s the truth! It’s Jesus Christ!”
After looking at these different types of Christians, Pope Francis said we’d do well to examine our own lives and question whether we too have stopped or lost our way. Are we standing in front of the things that we like such as worldliness and vanity or are we journeying forward and “putting into practice the beatitudes and Works of mercy” in our daily life? He concluded by saying that Jesus’ way “is full of consolations, glory and also the Cross. But always with peace in our souls.”
“Today let us ponder this question just for five minutes… How am I doing on this Christian journey? Am I standing still, making mistakes, turning here and there, stopping in front of the things that I like, or (am I following) Jesus who said “I who am the Way.’? And let us implore the Holy Spirit to teach us to journey along the right road, forever! And when we get tired, a little refreshment and then we carry on our journey. Let us ask for this grace.”
(from Vatican Radio)…