Sweden hosts Courtyard of the Gentiles

The Courtyard of the Gentiles held its latest meeting last week in Stockholm (13-14 September). This series of meetings, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture, create a respectful dialogue between believers and non-believers. The Swedish meeting was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Sweden to the Holy See, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the youth organisation Fryshuset. The conference had the overall theme “The world with and without God”.

The two leading initiators of the conference, the President of the Pontifical Council of Culture, Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, and the Ambassador of Sweden to the Holy See, Mrs Ulla Gudmundson, were present throughout the whole conference.

Father Ulf Jonsson, SJ, said the Courtyard was an extraordinary event in the context of Swedish society.

“Sweden is often said to be one of the most secularized countries in the world, and in many respects that is correct,” he said. “Few people go to church on Sunday, and religious belief plays a very marginal role in civic life and public debate in our country.”

He said the meeting served as an example of respectful dialogue.

“All participants could freely express their own views and critical remarks of different kinds were being voiced, but never in a harsh manner,” he said. “I don’t think that anyone left the conference in an offended mood but glad and surely with a number of interesting pronouncements and impressive personal testimonies to reflect further about. And those who had so far experienced the church mainly as a teaching institution could now experience her as also attentively listening to others.”

Listen to the full interview by Christine Seuß with Father Jonsson: