SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, Pope Francis on Friday joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders in calling on primary religions to paint in combination for peace, telling an interfaith summit that faith should never be used. to justify the violence and that devout leaders will have to oppose the “childish” whims of the iron fist war.
On his special day in the Arab kingdom on the Gulf of Bahrain, Francis closed a convention on the East-West discussion sponsored by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, then met with Muslim leaders at the Royal Mosque.
It was his moment of such a convention in as many months, after Kazakhstan, evidence of Francis’ basic conviction that moments of encounter between other people of other faiths can help today’s conflicts and promote a more just and sustainable world.
Sitting around him on the grounds of the Sakhir Royal Palace were prominent Muslim imams, the non-secular leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians and American rabbis who have long been committed to interfaith dialogue. Speaker after speaker, he called for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the opening of peace negotiations. The Russian Orthodox Church, which sent an emissary to the conference, strongly supported the Kremlin in its war and justified it on grounds.
Francis told the meeting that while the world appears to be parting like two opposing seas, the mere presence of devout leaders in combination was evidence that they “intend to navigate the same waters, opting for the direction of the encounter rather than confrontation. “
“It is a striking paradox that, while the majority of the world’s population is united to face the same challenges, suffering severe food, ecological and pandemic crises, as well as shocking global injustice, some potentates are caught in a resolute struggle. for partisan interests,” he said.
“It seems that we are witnessing a dramatic and childish scenario: on the lawn of humanity, to cultivate what surrounds us, we play with fire, missiles and bombs, cannons that bring pain and death, covering our not unusual house with ash and hatred. He said.
King Hamad, for his part, called for a constant effort to prevent Russia’s war in Ukraine and announce peace negotiations, “for the good of all mankind. “
This stopover is Francis’ moment in a Gulf Arabian country, following his historic 2019 in Abu Dhabi, where he signed a document selling the Catholic-Muslim fraternity with a prominent Sunni cleric, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb. Al-Tayeb is the great imán. de Al-Azhar, the seat of Sunni learning in Cairo, and has become Francis’ key wife in promoting greater understanding between Christians and Muslims to promote peace and fight climate change.
Al-Tayeb joined Francis in Bahrain and also performed last month in Kazakhstan. In his prepared remarks on Friday he called for an end to the war in Russia “to save the lives of other innocent people who have nothing to do with this violence. “tragedy. “
Al-Tayeb also called on Sunni and Shia Muslims to interact in a similar discussion process to try to heal their centuries of division, adding that Al-Azhar was in a position to organize such a meeting. Islam has its roots in the question of who will succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632.
“Let’s expel together all hate speech, provocation and excommunication and separate the old and fashionable conflicts with all their bureaucracy and all their negative ramifications,” he said. Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni monarchy that has been accused of human rights. Teams systematically discriminate against opponents of their Shiite majority, tariffs that the government rejects.
Later Friday, al-Tayeb met privately with Francis, who thanked him for his openness to Shiites. “Today you were very courageous when you spoke of the discussion within Islam,” the pope said.
They then presided over an assembly at the Royal Mosque between the Vatican delegation and the Council of Muslim Elders, which began with a boy singing verses from the Koran and a Christian woman reading a verse from the Bible. As two dozen air conditioners cooled the mosque’s courtyard, Vatican and Muslim speakers cited environmental fears and climate change as humanity’s top fear.
To the assembled imams, Francis insisted that “the God of peace provokes war, incites hatred, supports violence. “
Francis also took his discussion message to Bahrain’s Christian leaders by presiding over an ecumenical assembly and prayer for peace at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, the largest Catholic church in the Gulf, which opened last year on land donated to the church through Al Khalifa.
Francis opened his stopover in Bahrain on Thursday urging Bahrain’s government to renounce the death penalty and guarantee fundamental human rights for all citizens. It’s a nod to Bahrain’s Shiite dissidents who say they have been harassed and detained, subjected to torture and “mock trials. “”, some stripped of their citizenship or sentenced to death for their political activities. The government denies any discrimination against Shiites.
Francis raised the citizenship factor in his remarks Friday, albeit in general terms, stressing the need for countries to “identify in our societies the concept of full citizenship” and reject terms such as minorities.
Francis, however, also aimed to highlight Bahrain’s culture of devout tolerance: Unlike neighboring Saudi Arabia, where Christians practice their faith brazenly, Bahrain is home to several Christian communities as well as a small Jewish community.
In his prepared remarks at the forum, U. S. Rabbi Marc Schneier, who has long worked to publicize Muslim Jews and serves as al Khalifa’s special adviser on interfaith issues, praised Bahrain as a “model in global Arabic for the coexistence and tolerance of other devout communities.
During the pope’s visit, activists shared a video of a protest Friday south of Bahrain’s capital, Manama, ahead of the island’s parliamentary elections. Protesters carried banners calling on the public to boycott the vote. Protesters
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