Pope Francis meets his friend, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
Nov 15,2019
“Welcome.”
A hug is the usual greeting among friends, and the sign of welcome the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar used when he saw Pope Francis. Ahmed al Tayyeb told Pope Francis that he looked very well.
The rector of Al-Azhar University visited Rome to participate in the Congress on the Protection of Minors especially through digital media.
The president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, Cardinal Ayuso Guixot, accompanied the Imam and his delegation to the meeting with Pope Francis.
They are members of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity that work in compliance with the document on human fraternity the Imam and the pope signed together in February in Abu Dhabi.
Pope Francis was presented with the “Abraham Family House” project that would build a large complex for the three Abrahamic religions in Abu Dhabi. It includes two museums and three buildings: a mosque, a synagogue, and a church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi.
The pope listened intently to the explanations about the macro-complex and then the exchanging of gifts began.
The Imam gifted Pope Francis a delicate figure with drawings about life in the Egyptian Desert.
For the Imam, the pope gave him an engraving whose meaning he explained. He then added a touch of humor to the encounter…
“This is an allegory. There is a plant of the vine, the dove, and the olive, with the message: “Be messengers of peace”…and I don’t know if you know this guy.”
Ángeles Conde
Carina Anderson
© Vatican Media
Pope Welcomes Grand Imam of Al-Azhar of Egypt
Discussion of Human Brotherhood for World Peace and Common Living
Among those whom Pope Francis received along with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar were Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ambassador of the Republic of Egypt to the Holy See, Mahmoud Samy and some personalities and representatives of the University of Al-Azhar and the Superior Committee, said a communique of the Holy See Press Office.
It said the purpose of the meeting was to help achieve the objectives contained in the Document on the Human Brotherhood for World Peace and Common Living together, established in August.
Among those representing the Holy See at the meeting were Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Bishop Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, Secretary of the Holy Father.
During the cordial talks, the Vatican said, the issue of the protection of minors in the digital world was discussed, as well as the recent visit of His Holiness to the United Arab Emirates and the initiatives taken by the Superior Committee to achieve the objectives of the Document on the Human Brotherhood in the months since its foundation.
During the encounter, the Committee introduced to the Holy Father a new member, Dr. Irina Georgieva Bokova, and explained to the Holy Father the project of the “House of Abraham”, inaugurated in New York last September.
Wikimedia – Becks
Statement by Center for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue of Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
‘Christians and Muslims: Serving Humanity Together’
The following is the Final Statement given at the end of the Eleventh Colloquium between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Centre for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue (C.I.I.D.) of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (I.C.R.O.), Teheran. The Colloquium took place in Teheran, Iran from November 11-12, 2019, on the theme “Christians and Muslims: Serving Humanity Together”:
The Center for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue organized their Eleventh Colloquium on November 11-12, 2019 in Teheran, under the joint chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Abuzar Ibrahimi Turkaman, President of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, and His Eminence Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
The delegation of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization was comprised of the following:
Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri
Ayatollah Dr. Ahmad Beheshti
Ayatollah Dr. Reza Ramezani
Ayatollah Abolghasem Alidoust Abarghouei
Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Taskhiri
Dr. Mahmood Hekmatnia
Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Imanipour
Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Taskhiri
Dr. Mohammad Hossain Mozafari
Ms. Haydeh Ramazan Rostamabadi
Mr. Ali Asghar Ameri Bafghi
The delegation of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was composed of the following:
Msgr. Khaled Akasheh
H.E. Archbishop Leo Boccardi
H.E. Monsignor Sarkis Davidian
Msgr. Patrick Valdrini
Rev. Laurent Basanese
Rev. Diego Sarrio Cucarella
Rev. Dr. David Marshall
Dr. Ghada Shbeir
Sister Nora Ishoui
Sister Rachel Youkhaneh
In the inaugural session, in addition to the opening remarks by Dr. Turkaman and Cardinal Ayuso Guixot, a talk was given by Ayatollah Abolghasem Alidoust Abarghouei, Faculty Member of the Islamic Research Institute for Culture and Thought on “Human Fraternity”.
The participants focused on the theme: “Christians and Muslims: Serving humanity together” from the viewpoints of Shia Islam and Catholicism. Papers were presented on the following subthemes:
1. Promoting individual rights and duties: Muslim and Christian Perspectives
2. Serving together the family and the education of the youth: Christian and Muslim Perspectives
3. Serving together in society: Muslim and Christian Perspectives
4. Serving together in the international community: Christian and Muslim Perspectives.
At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed on the following:
1 – Service to others, especially the sick, the poor and the needy, is of capital importance to Christians and Muslims. In addition, serving others witnesses to the universal love of God for all human beings, because He created everyone and everything, and cares for all His creation with the same love.
2 – Service to humanity requires treatment of all human beings without discrimination across the world. All individuals, all communities and all nations should be treated with a sense of humanity, including in situations of war or under international sanctions.
3 – Muslims and Christians, along with all persons of goodwill who do not profess any particular religion, are called to promote fundamental human rights for everybody, everywhere, at all times. Freedom of conscience and of religion is the cornerstone of the edifice of human rights and therefore should be persevered and promoted.
4 – Duties are inseparable from rights. Therefore, every person and group, while defending their rights, should also do their best to fulfill their duties towards their families, communities, and societies.
5 – The formation of young people as both sincere believers and responsible citizens is of essential importance for religions and states alike. It is on families that the primary responsibility for this formation of young people falls; they thus have the right to be supported in this responsibility by the whole of society.
6 – A particular and urgent service to humanity today is the custody of creation, taking into consideration in particular climate change and the environmental crisis. This endeavor requires the collaboration of all believers and people of goodwill.
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue expressed profound gratitude to the Center for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue and to the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization for their warm welcome and generous hospitality.
The participants decided to hold the next colloquium in Rome in 2021, to be preceded by a preparatory meeting in 2020.