Fifty years of Catholic Church dialogue with other religions
Vatican City, 13 Nov 2013: A 2,100-page volume titled ‘Interreligious Dialogue in
the Official Teaching of the Catholic Church (1963-2013) was presented at a press
conference held at the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday morning. The book contains
a collection of Council texts, encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and addresses by
popes from John XXIII to Benedict XVI, which, as Pope Francis said at the start of
his pontificate, show that "The Catholic Church is conscious of the importance of
promoting friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions".
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.
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 globalization 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.)'."
"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."Source: AsiaNews