Vatican City, Sep 11, 2019 / 11:27 am (CNA).- Catholics and Muslims prayed in Vatican City Wednesday for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and of every act of terrorism.
The prayers were a part of the first meeting of a new committee created by the United Arab Emirates for implementing the goals outlined in Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb’s joint statement on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi Feb. 4.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the committee chose to meet Sept. 11 as “a sign of the will to build life and fraternity where others sowed death and destruction.”
The committee is made up of seven members: two from the Roman curia and five members from the UAE and Egypt. The group selected Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, to be the committee president.
Bishop Ayuso one of 13 men selected by Pope Francis to be elevated to the rank of cardinal Oct. 5.
Pope Francis greeted the committee members Sept. 11 in Casa Santa Marta and gave each of them a copy of the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.”
The document on human fraternity, often referred to Abu Dhabi declaration, invites “all persons who have faith in God and faith in human fraternity to unite and work together so that it may serve as a guide for future generations to advance a culture of mutual respect in the awareness of the great divine grace that makes all human beings brothers and sisters.”
The document discusses the importance of religion in building a peaceful and free society and the challenges of an increasingly secular world. It condemns all practices and policies detrimental to human life and freedom.
Within a paragraph about human freedom, the document states that religious plurality is willed by God. “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings,” the document states.
The new committee is one of several initiatives taken by the UAE during what they have proclaimed the “Year of Tolerance.”
During their first meeting, the committee drafted a proposal to the United Nations to define a date sometime between Feb. 3-5 – the anniversary of Pope Francis’ 2019 visit to the UAE – to be proclaimed the “Day of Human Fraternity.” The group also decided to invitate representatives from other religions to join the committee.
At the conclusion of the meeting, each member prayed according to their own tradition for the victims of terrorism. The next meeting of the committee will be held Sept. 20 in New York.
“I think the Abu Dhabi declaration is a global appeal to the ‘civilization of love’ which contrasts with those who want a clash of civilizations,” Ayuso said in an interview with Vatican News Aug 26.
“Prayer, dialogue, respect and solidarity are the only winning weapons against terrorism, fundamentalism and all kinds of war and violence,” the cardinal elect said.
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Lifting up hearts and minds in prayer and thanksgiving is an act in world-building.
“Within a paragraph about human freedom, the document states that religious plurality is willed by God. ‘The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings,’ the document states.”
Yes, not only is that “Catholic Teaching” but also Islamic/Koranic teaching…probably not.
That someone is a “revert” when they become a Muslim vs a “convert” is a first clue.
Thank you for that observation , on being considered a ‘revert’.. that might be the truth and wisdom they have kept from the Christian Patrimony that we need to take in,
with enough enthusiasm as well, esp. considering the practical oneness , in the falleness , that we share with the nonbelievers at many levels too , including the idolatry of greed , rebellion, pride etc etc too ..
The power of the Consecration to the Immaculate Heart , to help us deepen in trust and gratitude to proclaim with her and others – ‘ The Holy Spirit has come down upon me , the power of the Almighty is overshadowing me ‘ , to conform us all to the goodness of The Father , in His Son, in the power of His Spirit ..
‘ Show us The Father , that shall be sufficient for us ‘ and the profound , touching words of response from The Lord – ‘ if you have seen Me, you have seen The Father ..’ ., yet , so much hanging on that ‘if ‘
Mankind , ever since The Garden, struggling to see The Father ..often being duped to follow the father below instead ..
Holy Father, our Pope , after his name sake St.Francis , who could see goodness of The Father, in so much around him ..
St.Francis , to this day bears witness to that goodness , in those rose bushes that shed the thorns , as a reward for his holy purity .. they can even seem at first glance , as being even ‘unnatural’ …
Sexuality , with its carnal ways , having been a thorn of rebellion , in the hands of the enemy , enough to make persons think that human life itself is a mere byproduct of same , not planned, loved and foreseen by The Father from all eternity .
And The Father , in hiddenness , all the while preparing a holy Mother , conceived more by the power of spoken holy words , in love, by her parents than by carnality,
a power of His own that The Father had desired to share with Adam too ..
He waited , till the New Adam, who bestows that power of spoken words, in Him , upon His holy priests too..
Interesting how we have 2/11 – in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes , the Immaculate conception , also the day when Pope Emer. Benedict resigned – seeing the deeper need for healing in this realm may be ..
7/11 – Feast of St.Benedict , when many are yearning for the kind of purity and discipline in our culture .
Thankfully , The Church heeding the call, to a life of adoring the Hidden Lord, in The Eucharist , as a means of being spared the destructive , divisive sounds and words of the world .
Our Holy Father too an advocate of same .
9/11 – good to hear of the above initiative in the article , to see it as a day of gratitude to The Father , even if like children, those of other faiths may not grasp the Truth that well – we do not see little children as being unworthy of the Kingdom , because of ignorance , instead trusts how He desires for them to be there with Him, to behold the face of The Father .
9/11 here might serve any more also as a symbol of the need for deeper repentance for our own depravity , in rejecting life and children , families and marriages ..
That repentance , thus to help prepare better for The Feast of The Cross ..The Blood and water , to wash off , burn off all thorns of rebellion and disbelief in the goodness of The Father .
Such a deep trust , in The Father , in the heart of the Holy Father , who has witnessed the Eucharistic Miracle , thus the power of spoken words , in Him, to bless all His children , for mercy on us and the whole world ..
Glory be !
“Within a paragraph about human freedom, the document states that religious plurality is willed by God. “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings,” the document states.”
What?
WHAT?
*****WHAT*****?????????
What utter balderdash. Tripe. Bilge. Baloney. Malarkey.
Okay, I just did some searching, and Bishop Athanasius Schneider apparently asked Pope Francis about that.
“On the topic of my concern about the phrase used in the Abu Dhabi document – that God “wills” the diversity of religions – the Pope’s answer was very clear: he said that the diversity of religions is only the permissive will of God. He stressed this and told us: you can say this, too, that the diversity of religions is the permissive will of God.
“I tried to go more deeply into the question, at least by quoting the sentence as it reads in the document. The sentence says that as God wills the diversity of sexes, color, race and language, so God wills the diversity of religions. There is an evident comparison between the diversity of religions and the diversity of sexes.
“I mentioned this point to the Holy Father, and he acknowledged that, with this direct comparison, the sentence can be understood erroneously. I stressed in my response to him that the diversity of sexes is not the permissive will of God but is positively willed by God. And the Holy Father acknowledged this and agreed with me that the diversity of the sexes is not a matter of God’s permissive will.
“But when we mention both of these phrases in the same sentence, then the diversity of religions is interpreted as positively willed by God, like the diversity of sexes. The sentence therefore leads to doubt and erroneous interpretations, and so it was my desire, and my request that the Holy Father rectify this. But he said to us bishops: you can say that the phrase in question on the diversity of religions means the permissive will of God.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-schneider-extracts-clarification-on-diversity-of-religions-from-pope-francis-brands-abuse-summit-a-failure
Surely when one speaks confusingly one is obligated to correct it everywhere the original statement is made, not just to give permission to a few people to explain it.