Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Director of this project, is a tireless creator of events. The latest “Courtyard” took place a few days ago in Palermo.
Entitled, “The Culture of Legality and the Multi-Religious Society”, it transmitted a strong message of condemnation of the Mafia. As in all preceding “Courtyards” that have taken place in various cities of the world, Cardinal Ravasi made generous and effective use of music, dance, personal witness, and in this case, the participation of children.
Amidst the Cardinal’s dreams for future projects, is his vision for an event to take place in Jerusalem with the participation of personalities representing the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures.
Despite difficulties, he believes the time might be ripe for such an encounter.
Following are highlights from a conversation we had with His Eminence, containing his reflections on the basic premises of “The Courtyard of the Gentiles”, and on its special and specific dialogical characteristics. The Cardinal is renowned both for his profound knowledge of the Bible, for his passionate interest in the arts and sciences, and for his daily twittering of Biblical and literary aphorisms, to the delight of his responsive readers.
“The idea was launched by Benedict XVI during his 2010 Christmas address to the Curia and to international diplomats accredited at the Holy See. The purpose of the Courtyard events, Cardinal Ravasi tells us, “is to engage in dialogue with all non-believers, committed to ethical ideals but unable to conceive of transcendence, searching for answers to the fundamental existential questions of our times. Agnostics searching for answers”, he says, “are often much closer to God than those for whom faith is merely a perfunctory routine.”
“We are particularly interested in scientific and socio-cultural discourse. For Catholicism, the supernatural does not obliterate the natural order. Faith does not exclude reason. Religious ethics (which are moral ethics) are rooted in natural ethics but more demanding, as in the sexual realm for example.
“We meet on the neutral grounds of dialogue, not on those of Catholic theology. Non-believers could be defined as agnostics, humanists, secularists, even atheists, says Ravasi, “but we insist on mutual respect. The aggressive, offensive, sarcastic language used by some militant atheists cannot produce ‘dialogue’, from the Greek, meaning to ‘enter into’ a subject, (“attraversare ” in Italian), to exchange ideas.”
“Courtyard” events have been held in European cities, from Bucharest and Tirania to Barcelona, Florence, Bologna, Rome and Paris. The next debate is scheduled for March 29 and 30 in Palermo, entitled “The Culture of Legality and the Multicultural Society”, featuring the anti-mafia attorney Piero Grasso, Nando Dalla Chiesa, Remi Bague, Gian Enrico Rusconi, and Giuliano Amato.
Cardinal Ravasi recalls the Bucharest event on “In what does a non-believer believe?” with particular warmth.
“2000 students came” he said. A woman who declared herself Atheist before I spoke, told me afterwards, ‘I think I can no longer consider myself atheist.’”
You have not yet held an event in the Middle East. Don’t you think intercultural dialogue in this area might strengthen prospects for greater respect for human rights and the emergence of new democracies? Would you conceive of including Israel in the dialogue?
“I believe most countries in this area are not yet ready for cultural confrontation. However, yes, Jerusalem would be an ideal starting point. I invited the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See to participate in a regional encounter of Asian ambassadors, but unfortunately he was not able to attend. I also invited writers such as Amos Oz, David Grossman, Abraham Yehoshuah to other events, but somehow it has not yet worked out. I would be very happy to organize a meeting of Jewish, Christian and Muslim intellectuals and artists in Jerusalem.
Jewish people might still be skeptical of the Church’s true intentions, what with the history of centuries of mandatory theological “disputations” whose main purpose was the conversion of Jews, and the case histories of thousands of forced conversions, Israelis might fear proselytism….
“I can assure you the Catholic Church today does not engage in proselytism. Even evangelization – which is outside the Courtyard’s realm and entrusted to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization headed by Cardinal Rino Fisichella - is limited to inspiring Christians to return to their faith, a post-Vatican II faith. Our aim is to propose, not impose.
“Jews, moreover, just like Catholics, believe theirs is the True faith. Jews and Catholics have so many common values, in the field of ethics, the concept of God and transcendence, symbolism, a common text etc. Regarding sexual ethics, we have the same views on homosexuality and abortion, etc. We have more affinities and easier dialogue with Jews than with Protestants.”
Our views are not really identical – there are homosexual Jewish rabbis, and abortion is permitted during the first three months if the mother’s life or health is in serious danger.
A fetus is considered a human person only after birth….. There are different views in the different branches of Judaism: Orthodox,Conservative, Reform, Liberal, Reconstructionist, Humanistic and Secular Judaism.
“Perhaps we are closest to Orthodox Judaism. However even those who define themselves as “non-believing” or “atheist” Jews have a stronger sense of religious identity than Christians, based on their sense of Peoplehood. Almost all American Jewish literature was produced by Jewish atheists.
We would be very interested in having a cultural, anthropological dialogue with Israeli secular Jews, and to learn how a rabbi and believer regards a Jewish atheist such as Woody Allen !“
Dialogue with non-believers has become a priority for the Catholic Church. At the 25th anniversary of the first World Day of Interreligious Prayer In Assisi last October, the French “humanist” Julia Kristeva was one of the main speakers.
“She is an outstanding thinker. I have read many of her works. Her dialogue with Jean Vanier in “Il loro sguardo buca le nostre ombre” about the handicapped, is filled with humanity, maternal warmth, together with psychological and rational insights. Her speech and that of Rabbi David Rosen were the most significant of the day. Both focus on the human person, his dignity, grandeur and his limits.
You have been reported as regretting not having had a chance to dialogue with the British atheist Christopher Hitchens before his death.
“Yes, I am certain he recognized a series of values that could not be reduced merely to cells. He expressed a spirituality. I don’t believe he would have denied the existence of the soul.”
You often quote the witticisms of self-defined non believers
“You mean statements such as that of Bunuel, “I am an atheist by the grace of God”, or Ionesco, “I run to the telephone every time it rings, hoping it might be God, or at least one of the angels in His Secretariat…” or the Rumanian writer Emil Cioran who wrote “When you listen to Bach you can see God being born…. or Woody Allen, “I don’t know if God exists, but if he does I hope he has a good excuse….”
What do you consider to be the main religious concern shared by both Christians and Jews today?
I would say the exponential secularization of society. Whether God exists or not, for many, is irrelevant. Charles Taylor expresses this via an aphorism in “The Secular Age”: “If God should appear in the street, he would be asked, at mos, for his documents.”