"The Catholic Church is conscious
of the importance of promoting friendship and respect between men and women of
different religious traditions," said Pope Francis
at the beginning of his pontificate to the representatives of
the Churches and ecclesial communities and other religions, words that highlight
the importance the Catholic Church, especially after the Second Vatican Council,
places in the dialogue with believers of other faiths, something that Francis
had already indicated in early August by personally signing the Church's annual
message of greetings to the Muslim community as it celebrated the end of
Ramadan.
The texts and documents of this "dialogue of friendship", a goal
pursued by the past six pontificates starting with John XXIII, have been put
together in a single volume, and presented this morning at a press
conference held at the Holy See Press Office.
The one 2,100-page tome titled Interreligious
Dialogue in the Official Teaching of the Catholic Church (1963-2013 (in
Italian) contains a collection of Council texts,
encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and addresses from John XXIII to Benedict XVI. There
are also some papers from the dicasteries of the Roman Curia regarding
interreligious dialogue.
In total, the 909
documents include 7 Council texts, 2 by John XXIII, 97 by Paul VI, 2 by John
Paul I, 591 by John Paul II, 188 by Benedict XVI, 15 from the Roman Curia, 3
legislative texts, and 4 from the International Theological Commission.
As Card
Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue, noted, the book, now in its third edition, contains the 188 texts Benedict
XVI devoted to interreligious dialogue in his seven years as pope. For Benedict XVI as for his predecessors,
religious freedom was a sacred and inalienable right, and he lost no
opportunity to reiterate it."
"Convinced that to deny or
arbitrarily restrict religious freedom means cultivating a reductive vision of the
human person, making it impossible
to establish a genuine and lasting peace of the whole human family (Message for World Day of Peace, 1 January 2011, n.1.4.),
Benedict XVI noted that the ongoing process of world globalisation was a good opportunity to
promote relations of universal brotherhood
among human beings."
Fr Miguel Angel
Ayuso Guixot, M.C.C.J., secretary of the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious
Dialogue, briefly listed the contents of the book, starting with John
XXIII, who in his opening address at the Second Vatican Council (11
October 1962) called "for the promotion of the 'unity in
esteem and respect for the Catholic Church which animates those who
follow
non-Christian religions," and not limit it to the unity in the Christian
and human family,
the unity of Catholics, and unity with Christians not yet in full
communion (Gaudet Mater
Ecclesia, n. 8.2.)'."
"In the Encyclical Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963),
John XXIII warned, "It is always
perfectly justifiable to distinguish between error as such and the person who
falls into error-even in the case of men who err regarding the truth or are led
astray as a result of their inadequate knowledge, in matters either of religion
or of the highest ethical standards. A man who has fallen into error does not
cease to be a man. He never forfeits his personal dignity; and that is
something that must always be taken into account (n. 158)'."
"Paul
VI, in his Ecclesiam Suam (6 August
1964), expressed his profound conviction that 'The Church must enter into
dialogue with the world in which it lives. It has something to say, a message
to give, a communication to make" (n. 67).
"John
Paul I, in spite of the brevity of his 33-day pontificate, followed the same
path as his predecessor, 'calling all to collaborate in creating a bulwark,
within nations, against blind violence and to promote improvement in the
conditions of less fortunate populations'."
"John
Paul II developed the 'culture of dialogue'. It would be
impossible to list here all the meetings that marked his pontificate." However, "I would like to
remember that, in 1986, he met followers
of all the world's religions for a Day of Prayer in Assisi."
Similarly, "in 2002,
following the dramatic events of 11 September 2001 and their tragic
consequences in the Middle and Near East, he proposed a Decalogue for peace to
the Heads of State and representatives of the governments of the world."
"On the
50th anniversary of the opening of the Council, Benedict XVI
reiterated that in order to find the true spirit of Vatican II, we must return
to its 'letter', that is, its texts. Two statements - Nostra Aetate (28 October 1965) and Dignitatis Humanae (December 6, 1965) - underscore the openness of
the Church."
"In the
first one, now considered the 'Magna Charta of dialogue', there is the recognition
that all religious traditions have something good. The second insists on
freedom, which belongs to every human being, to follow one's own conscience in
the sphere of religion. In fifty years, significant steps have been taken towards
the goals laid down by the Second Vatican Council and the last five popes, steps
that have been documented in this volume."