HASU morning of February 10, I cross the doors of the Sainte-Marthe residence where, suffering, Pope Francis prefers to receive his guests of the day. I have the privilege of being received for the second time by the Holy Father. Marked by fatigue, he has lost none of his aura. Nor from his gaze which, before the words, deeply grabs his interlocutors and sails in them, beyond their own expectations.
I am accompanied by members of the European Coordination Council Ammale (Alliance of Mosques, Associations and Muslim leaders in Europe), a new body created on my initiative to bring together Muslim representatives of more than 20 countries on the continent. We humbly come to submit the idea of an annual meeting for the fraternity of Christians and Muslims of Europe, which we propose to organize in Paris in 2025 under the aegis of Saint Augustine, a figure of convergence between the lands of East and West, in the spirit of the interreligious meetings of Assisi (Italy) initiated in 1986.
The pope listens carefully, welcomes the proposal with gravity, benevolence and enthusiasm. He immediately includes the scope of such an event and instructs the dicastery for the interreligious dialogue to seize the project. That Pope Francis has been favorable to such a proposal will not surprise those who closely followed his thinking and commitments. With him, the Catholic Church reinvested the love of neighbor. He called tirelessly to help the most vulnerable, to the expression of faith in humanism, to safeguard our parent company. And to the dialogue of religions.
Fraternal coexistence
In 1965, the Catholic Church redefined tolerance between believers. The declaration Nostra aetate of the Vatican Council II then discerned a world “Where the human race becomes more closely united day”. This aspiration became tradition and, half a century later, François gave it a new breath. In 2020, its encyclical Fratelli Tutti has transformed the ideal of “We are all brothers” in spiritual and moral requirement. The brotherhood of believers in God, and of all men, offers them a chance to recognize themselves a member of the same family of faith and deep values. This luck, fragile, precious, must be seized at the slightest opportunity.
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Source: Lemonde