Pope
Francis to Muslim Leaders: “No more violence in the name of God!”
“In this night of conflict that we are currently
enduring, may religions be a dawn of peace, seeds of rebirth amid the
devastation of death.”
VATICAN
CITY — In his first visit to a majority Shiite nation, Pope Francis called
on Muslim leaders to join him in giving a united response to a conflict-ridden
world, by denouncing violence perpetrated in the name of God, and building
peace through prayer, dialogue, and reconciliation.
Speaking
on Sunday afternoon to Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, Grand Mufti of
the Caucasus, during an interreligious meeting in Azerbaijan, the Pope said
that today “we are challenged to give a response that can no longer be put
off.”
To
the Sheikh, who is also the Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, along
with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and leaders of the
Jewish Communities in the region, the Pope said: “The blood of far too many
people cries out to God from the earth, our common home (cf.
Gen 4:10).”
“Now
is not the time for violent or abrupt solutions, but rather an urgent moment to
engage in patient processes of reconciliation. The real question of our time is
not how to advance our own causes, but what proposals for life are we offering
to future generations; how to leave them a better world than the one we have
received.”
The
Pope addressed the group of religious leaders after a private meeting with the
Sheik.
In
his address, Pope Francis also spoke at length about the relationship role
of religion; humanity’s need for it amid the “swirling contradictions of
our time” such as nihilism and radical extremism; the “fruitfulness deriving
from the virtuous rapport between society and religion”; and the “task of every
civil society to support religion.”
Reiterating
his repeated call, “No more violence in the name of God!,” Pope
Francis told Muslim leaders: “May his most holy Name be adored, not
profaned or bartered as a commodity through forms of hatred and human
opposition.”
“In
this night of conflict that we are currently enduring,” the pope concluded,
“may religions be a dawn of peace, seeds of rebirth amid the devastation of
death, echoes of dialogue resounding unceasingly, paths to encounter and reconciliation
reaching even those places where official mediation efforts seem not to have
borne fruit.”
Here is the official Vatican
English text of the pope’s address:
Our
being here together is a blessing. I thank the Leader of the Muslims in the
Caucasus, who welcomes us with his customary hospitality, and the local
religious Leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Leaders of the
Jewish Communities.
Meeting one another in
fraternal friendship in this place of prayer is a powerful sign, one that shows
the harmony which religions can build together, based on personal relations and
on the good will of those responsible.
This is seen, for example, in
the tangible help that the Islamic Leader has guaranteed to the Catholic
community here on more than one occasion, along with the wise counsel that, in
a familial spirit, he shares with that community.
I wish also to highlight the
good relations that unite local Catholics to the Orthodox community in solid
fraternity and daily affection which are an example for all, as well as the
warm friendship shared with the Jewish community.
The
benefits of this harmony are felt throughout Azerbaijan, a country that
distinguishes itself for its welcome and hospitality, gifts which I have
experienced on this memorable day, one for which I am truly grateful. There is
here a desire to protect the great heritage of religions and, at the same time,
a pursuit of deeper and more fruitful openness.
The Catholic Church, for
example, finds a place and lives in harmony among other religions that have far
more members, demonstrating concretely that it is not opposition but
cooperation that helps to build better and more peaceful societies.
Our being together at this
place is also in continuity with the many meetings that are held in Baku to
promote dialogue and multiculturalism. Opening the doors of welcome and
integration means opening the doors of each person’s heart and the doors of hope
to everyone.
I am confident that this
country, “the gateway between East and West” (John Paul II, Address at the Welcome Ceremony,
Baku, May 22, 2002), will always cultivate its vocation to
openness and encounter, the indispensable conditions for building lasting
bridges of peace and a future worthy of humanity.
The
fraternity and sharing that we seek to increase will not be appreciated by
those who want to highlight divisions, reignite tensions and profit from
opposition and differences; rather, fraternity and sharing are invoked and
longed for by those who desire the common good, and are above all pleasing to
God, the Compassionate and All Merciful, who wishes his sons and daughters in
the one human family to be ever more united among themselves and always in
dialogue with one another.
A great poet, a son of this
land, wrote: “If you are human, mix with humans, because people go well with
each other” (Nizami Ganjavi, The
Book of Alexander, I, On his own state of life and the passage of
time).
Opening ourselves to others
does not lead to impoverishment but rather enrichment, because it enables us to
be more human: to recognize ourselves as participants in a greater collectivity
and to understand our life as a gift for others; to see as the goal, not our
own interests, but rather the good of humanity; to act with neither abstract
idealism nor with interventionism, not by harmful interference or forceful
actions, but rather out of respect for the dynamics of history, cultures and
religious traditions.
Religions
have an enormous task: to accompany men and women looking for the meaning of
life, helping them to understand that the limited capacities of the human being
and the goods of this world must never become absolutes.
Again, Nizami wrote: “Do not
base yourself solidly on your own strength, such that in heaven you will find
no resting place! The fruits of this world are not eternal; do not adore that
which perishes!” (Leylā and Majnūn, Death
of Majnūn on the tomb of Leylā).
Religions are called to help us
understand that the centre of each person is outside of himself, that we are
oriented towards the Most High and towards the other who is our neighbour. In
this way, the vocation of human life is to set out towards the highest and
truest love: this alone is the culmination of every authentically religious
aspiration. For, as the poet says, “love is that which never mutates, love is
that which has no end” (ibid, The Despair of Majnūn).
Humanity
therefore needs religion if it is to reach its goal. Religion is a compass that
orients us to the good and steers us away from evil, which is always crouching
at the door of a person’s heart (cf. Gen 4:7).
Religions, therefore, have an
educational task: to help bring out the best in each person. We, as guides,
have a great responsibility, in order to offer authentic responses to men and
women who are searching, who are often lost among the swirling contradictions
of our time.
Indeed, today we observe, on
the one hand, the dominance of the nihilism of those who no longer believe in
anything except their own wellbeing, advantage and profit, of those who throw
life away, having become accustomed to the saying, “if God does not exist then
everything is permissible” (cf. F.M. Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov,
XI, 4.8.9).
On the other hand, we see the
growing emergence of rigid and fundamentalist reactions on the part of those
who, through violent words and deeds, seek to impose extreme and radical
attitudes which are furthest from the living God.
Religions,
on the contrary, which help to discern the good and put it into practice
through deeds, prayer and diligent cultivation of the inner life, are called to
build a culture of encounter and peace, based on patience, understanding, and
humble, tangible steps.
This is the way a humane
society is best served. For its part, society must always overcome the
temptation to take advantage of religious factors: religions must never be
instrumentalized, nor can they ever lend support to, or approve of, conflicts
and disagreements.
There
is, furthermore, a fruitfulness deriving from the virtuous rapport between
society and religions, that respectful alliance which needs to be built up and
protected, and which I would like to evoke with an image dear to this country.
I refer to the precious artistic windows that have been here for centuries,
crafted simply out of wood and tinted glass.
When they are made using
traditional methods, there is a peculiar characteristic: neither glue nor nails
are used, but the wood and the glass are set into each other through
time-consuming and meticulous effort. Thus, the wood supports the glass and the
glass lets in the light.
In the same way, it is the task
of every civil society to support religion, which allows a light to shine
through, indispensable for living. In order for this to happen, an effective
and authentic freedom must be guaranteed. Artificial kinds of “glue” cannot be
used, which bind people to believe, imposing on them a determined belief system
and depriving them of the freedom to choose; nor is there a need for the
external “nails” of worldly concerns, of the yearning for power and money.
For God cannot be used for
personal interests and selfish ends; he cannot be used to justify any form of
fundamentalism, imperialism or colonialism. From this highly symbolic place, a
heartfelt cry rises up once again: no more violence in the name of God! May his
most holy Name be adored, not profaned or bartered as a commodity through forms
of hatred and human opposition.
We
honour, rather, the divine mercy that is given to us, through assiduous prayer
and real dialogue, “a necessary condition for peace in the world… a duty for
Christians as well as other religious communities” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
Gaudium, 250).
Prayer and dialogue are
profoundly interconnected: they flow from an openness of heart and extend to
the good of others, thus enriching and reinforcing each other.
The Catholic Church, in
continuity with the Second Vatican Council, heartily “exhorts her sons and
daughters, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other
religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian
faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual
and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men and women
(Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Nostra Aetate, 2).
This is not an accommodating
“facile syncretism”, nor a “diplomatic openness which says yes to everything in
order to avoid problems” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 251), but
rather a path of dialogue with others and a path of prayer for all: these are
our means “of turning spears into pruning hooks” (cf.
Is 2:4), to give rise to love where there is hatred, and forgiveness where
there is offence, of never growing weary of imploring and tracing the ways of
peace.
A
true peace, founded on mutual respect, encounter and sharing, on the will to go
beyond prejudices and past wrongs, on the rejection of double standards and
self-interests; a lasting peace, animated by the courage to overcome barriers,
to eradicate poverty and injustice, to denounce and put an end to the
proliferation of weapons and immoral profiteering on the backs of others.
The blood of far too many
people cries out to God from the earth, our common home (cf. Gen 4:10). Today, we are challenged to
give a response that can no longer be put off: to build together a future of
peace; now is not the time for violent or abrupt solutions, but rather an
urgent moment to engage in patient processes of reconciliation.
The real question of our time
is not how to advance our own causes, but what proposals for life are we
offering to future generations; how to leave them a better world than the one
we have received. God, and history itself, will ask us if we have spent
ourselves pursuing peace; the younger generations, who dream of a different
future, pointedly direct this question to us.
In
this night of conflict that we are currently enduring, may religions be a dawn
of peace, seeds of rebirth amid the devastation of death, echoes of dialogue
resounding unceasingly, paths to encounter and reconciliation reaching even
those places where official mediation efforts seem not to have borne fruit.
Particularly in this beloved
Caucasus region, which I have very much wished to visit and to which I have
come as a pilgrim of peace, may religions be active agents working to overcome
the tragedies of the past and the tensions of the present.
May the inestimable richness of
these countries be known and valued: the treasures old and ever new of the
wisdom, culture and religious sensibility of the people of the Caucasus, are a
tremendous resource for the future of the region and especially for European
culture; they are goods which we cannot renounce.
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http://aleteia.org/2016/10/02/pope-francis-to-muslim-leaders-no-more-violence-in-the-name-of-god
