Subject: VISnews 111018
Organization: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 179
ENGLISH
TUESDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2011
SUMMARY:
- Assisi: Religions Journeying towards Justice and Peace
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ASSISI: RELIGIONS JOURNEYING TOWARDS JUSTICE AND PEACE
VATICAN CITY, 18 OCT 2011 (VIS) - A press conference was held this morning
in the Holy See Press Office to present the "Day of reflection, dialogue and
prayer for peace and justice in the world: Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of
Peace", due to take place in the Italian town of Assisi on 27 October.
Participating in today's conference were: Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah
Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Bishop
Mario Toso, S.D.B., secretary of the same pontifical council; Archbishop
Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue; Fr. Andrea Palmieri, head of the Oriental Section of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Msgr. Melchor Jose Sanchez
de Toca y Alameda, under secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture,
and Fr. Jean-Marie Laurent Mazas of the Pontifical Council for Culture,
director of the "Courtyard of the Gentiles" initiative.
By calling this Day in Assisi, Benedict XVI wishes to mark the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic meeting organised there by John
Paul II in 1986. "The world today, as it did twenty-five years ago, needs
peace", said Cardinal Turkson. "Following two and a half decades of
collaboration and joint witness among religions, it is time to assess the
results and to relaunch our commitment in the face of new challenges", he
explained. Those challenges include "the financial and economic crisis which
is lasting longer than expected, the crisis in democratic and social
institutions, food and environmental problems, biblical-scale migrations,
indirect forms of neo-colonialism, the scourge of poverty and hunger,
unchecked international terrorism, and greater inequality and religious
discrimination".
"Once more - and suffice to consider recent events in Egypt and other
parts of the world - we must say 'no' to any exploitation of religion.
Violence among religions is a scandal which distorts the true identity of
religions, it obscures the face of God and distances us from the faith.
"The journey of religions towards justice and peace", the cardinal added,
"must be characterised by a joint search for truth. ... Therefore Benedict
XVI wishes the 2011 initiative in Assisi ... to be seen as a pilgrimage; the
which implies asceticism, purification, convergence towards a more exalted
place, and taking on a community responsibility".
The search for truth "is a precondition for knowing one another better,
for overcoming all forms of prejudice, and of syncretism which obscures
identity". It likewise helps us "to collaborate for the common good" and
facilitates our "coming together on the plane of natural reason". It is a
prerequisite "for defeating fanaticism and fundamentalism, according to
which peace comes about by imposing one's own convictions on others", and
for overcoming "the Babel of languages and the laicism which seeks to remove
from the human family the One Who is its Beginning and End".
Turning to consider the programme of events for the Day, the cardinal
explained that the various delegations will leave Rome by train on 27
October, in the company of the Holy Father. Having arrived in Assisi, they
will make their way to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where the
delegations will recall the previous meetings there and explore the theme of
the Day in greater depth. The Holy Father will also deliver an address. That
afternoon, those present in will make a "pilgrimage" to the Basilica of St.
Francis, being joined on the last stage by the members of the delegations.
Having reached the basilica, everyone will make a solemn renewal of their
joint commitment to peace.
More than fifty nations will be represented in Assisi. They will include,
apart from many European and American countries, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan,
Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and many others. "Those which, at
this moment in history, perhaps suffer most from problems associated with
religious freedom and dialogue between religions", Cardinal Turkson
observed.
For his part, Msgr. Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, under
secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, pointed out that the Pope
has, for the first time, also invited non-believers to a religious meeting.
"This innovative idea of the Holy Father's", he said, "is based on the
conviction that men and women, both believers and non-believers, are always
searching for God, for the Absolute, and that they are, therefore, all
pilgrims travelling towards the fullness of truth".
The Pope's invitation to participate in the Day has been accepted by the
French linguist, psychoanalyst, philosopher and writer Julia Kristeva; the
Italian philosopher Remo Bodei; the Mexican philosopher Guillermo Hurtado,
and the Austrian economist Walter Baier.
OP/ VIS
20111018 (760)
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