The interreligious congress in which Pope Francis participated this week in Kazakhstan adopted a declaration calling religious pluralism an expression “of the wisdom of God’s will in creation.”
Newsroom (17/09/2022 4:00 PM Gaudium Press) — The 35-point declaration was “adopted by the majority of the delegates” of the Seventh Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on Sept. 15 in the capital city of Nur-Sultan.
Pope Francis participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of the interreligious summit during his Sept. 13–15 visit to the Central Asian country.
Almost 100 delegates from around the world, representing the world’s major religions, participated in the three-day conference, including Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
Point 10 of the declaration said: “We note that pluralism and differences in religion, skin colour, gender, race, and language are expressions of the wisdom of God’s will in creation. Thus any incident of coercion to a particular religion and religious doctrine is unacceptable.”
The declaration also referenced the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayyeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi in February 2019.
“We recognize the importance and value of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together between the Holy See and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif,” the Kazakhstan declaration said, adding that the document calls for “peace, dialogue, mutual understanding, and mutual respect among believers for the common good.”
The declaration also condemned terrorism, called for an end to the conflict “in all corners of our world,” and encouraged greater participation of women in religion and society.
“We proceed from the immutable fact that the Almighty created all people equal, regardless of their racial, religious, ethnic or other affiliation or social status, therefore tolerance, respect, and mutual understanding underpin all religious teaching,” the declaration stated.
“We pay special attention to the importance of strengthening the institution of the family,” it said.
In his final remarks in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Pope Francis said interreligious dialogue is an urgently needed path to peace.
“The path of interreligious dialogue is a shared path to peace and for peace; as such, it is necessary and irrevocable,”
“Interreligious dialogue is no longer merely something expedient,” he continued, “it is an urgently-needed and incomparable service to humanity, to the praise and glory of the Creator of all.”
The pope said in his remarks that the world’s great religious traditions should give witness to the shared spiritual and moral patrimony of transcendence and fraternity.
“Transcendence, the Beyond, worship. It is impressive that each day millions and millions of men and women, of different ages, cultures, and social conditions join together in prayer in countless places of worship. This is the hidden force that makes our world move forward,” he said.
“And then fraternity, the other, proximity,” he added. “For one cannot profess genuine fidelity to the Creator without showing love for his creatures. This is the spirit that pervades the Declaration of our Congress.”
In his final speech of the trip on Thursday, Pope Francis said the good of humanity needs to come before other political, economic, and military objectives.
“Pope John Paul II, who visited Kazakhstan 21 years ago this very month, stated that ‘for the Church all ways lead to man’ and that man is ‘the way for the Church,’” Francis said, quoting paragraph 14 of “Redemptor Hominis.”
“I would like to say that today man is also the way for all the religions,” he said. “Yes, man, men and women, concrete human beings, weakened by the pandemic, worn out by war, wounded by indifference. Human beings, frail and marvelous creatures, who, ‘once God is forgotten, are left in darkness’ and apart from others cannot survive.”
“The good of humanity should be taken into consideration ahead of strategic and economic objectives, national, energy and military interests, and in advance of crucial decisions,” he said.
The pope noted that the Catholic Church, “which tirelessly proclaims the inviolable dignity of each person, created ‘in the image of God,’ also believes in the unity of the human family.”
Quoting from “Nostra aetate,” a declaration of the Second Vatican Council, Francis said: “The Church believes that all ‘humanity forms but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock that God created to people the entire earth, and because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all mankind.’”
– Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA