In his address to the Forum for Dialogue with Other Religious Leaders, the Pope calls for fraternity: “On the lawn of humanity, instead of worrying about the whole, others play with fire, missiles and bombs. Religion is not constrained, but free, that is, open to the intelligence for which we were created. “
Awali (AsiaNews) – It is not enough to say that a faith is peaceful: we will have to act accordingly. Schooling does not become a self-referential indoctrination, but a de facto way of opening space to others.
This morning Pope Francis delivered a message on the concrete consequences of fraternity in Bahrain, addressing other leaders and personalities present at the “Forum of dialogue: East and West for human coexistence”, an occasion for debate that is the instance of the existing Apostolic Journey. .
In Al-Fida’ Square of the Royal Palace of Awali, next to the ruler Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, there were reprobators of other devout denominations summoned to the Gulf country. Among them were the imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al Tayyeb, and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, whom Francis greeted with affection. because we intend to sail in the same sea, opting for the direction of encounter than for that of conflict. “
This task is more pressing than ever in today’s world marked by conflict: even since Awali, Francis has not stopped raising his voice to call for an end to the war in Ukraine. Faced with severe food, ecological and pandemic crises, as well as outrageous global injustice,” he said, “some hardliners are focusing on a solution resolved by fighting for partisan interests, exhuming outdated language, redrawing zones of influence and opposing blocs. He called it “a dramatically childish scenario: on the lawn of humanity, instead of dealing with the whole, you play with fire, with missiles and bombs, with cannons that cause tears and death, covering the not unusual space with ashes and hatred. “
Therefore, believers of all religions will have to respond in the wake of fraternity, already indicated in 2019 in the Declaration signed in Abu Dhabi with al Tayyeb and recalled through the same Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain discussed in the assembly of those days. But so that they do not remain mere words, Francis today pointed out 3 concrete challenges: prayer, schooling and action.
In the first place, the dimension of prayer: “the opening of the center to the Most High,” he explains, “is basic to purify us from selfishness, cloister, self-referentiality, falsehood and injustice. Whoever prays obtains peace in his and can only be his witness and messenger. “But for that we want an indispensable premise: devout freedom. being raped. And not only each and every one of the societies, but each and every one of the trusts is called to verify this. He is called to ask himself if he constrains from without or liberates God’s creatures within, if he is helping man who rejects rigidity, confinement and violence; if it increases in believers true freedom, which is not to do what one wants, but to dispose at last of the intelligence for which we were created. “
A momentary challenge pointed out by the Supreme Pontiff is schooling, a choice to ignorance, enemy of peace. to demanding situations and susceptible to cultural changes; not self-referential and isolated, but attentive to the history and culture of others; not static, but in search, to embrace other indispensable facets of the only humanity to which we belong. “
It will be necessary to inform to “get to the center of the disorders without pretending to have the solution and to resolve in an undeniable way the complex disorders, but with the disposition to inhabit the crisis without yielding to the logic of the conflict. “An education that develops the ability to “question oneself, to enter into crisis and to know how to discuss with patience, respect and a spirit of listening; Learn about the history and culture of others. Because it is not enough to say that we are tolerant, we will have to make room for the other, give him rights and opportunities. “
Francis said that the school factor also comprises 3 emergencies: first, “the popularity of women in the public sphere. “Problems, wars, with the eyes of children: this is not naïve kindness, but farsighted wisdom, because only by thinking about them, progress will be reflected in the innocence of profit and contribute to the long-term construction of a human being. scale. ” And then schooling for citizenship, renouncing “the discriminatory use of the term minority, which carries in itself the germ of the feeling of isolation and inferiority. “
Finally, fraternity calls for action, to translate into coherent gestures the “no to the blasphemy of war and the use of violence. “and isolate violent people who abuse their name. The devout man, the man of peace, is also opposed to the arms race, to the business of war, to the market of death. It does not privilege alliances opposed to anyone, but it does privilege the paths of encounter with everyone: without yielding to any relativism or syncretism of any kind, it follows a single path, that of fraternity, dialogue, peace.
“The Creator,” Francis concluded, “invites us to act, especially on behalf of too many of his creatures who still do not place enough space in the agendas of the powerful: the poor, the unborn, the elderly, the sick, the migrants. If we, who in the God of mercy, do not pay attention to the wretched and give voice to the voiceless, who will?, we will draw upon the world the blessing of the Most High. “
In his address to the Forum for Dialogue with Other Religious Leaders, the Pope calls for fraternity: “On the lawn of humanity, instead of worrying about the whole, others play with fire, missiles and bombs. Religion is not constrained, but free, that is, open to the intelligence for which we were created. “