'Pope Francis makes people of different faiths feel like one family'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov and Delphine Allaire - Singapore

On Friday, Pope Francis takes part in an interreligious dialogue with young people with hope of inspiring action and a commitment to unity and hope among the youth of various faiths across Singapore.

Over 600 participants from more than 50 schools and interfaith and religious organisations are expected to attend the event.

Lawrence Chong, a Consultor at the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and chairperson for this dialogue with the Pope, spoke to Vatican News' Delphine Allaire in Singapore. 

Ongoing dialogue efforts

Even if interreligious dialogue has existed actively for years, and "everything is good," "the focus now," he pointed out, "is really on the young generation."

"Because Pope Francis himself has been encouraging the young people to step up and change the world," he noted, "we thought that since he is coming to Singapore, it is better to introduce interreligious youth leaders, young people who have been involved in inter-religious dialogue.

Likewise, he said, they chose to involve other young people who are not in interreligious dialogue, "to inspire them."

The Pope's personal perspective, he reflected, may motivate them to go out, without this just being "an event," but an occasion to "go out, build Singapore, and help the region."

Human Fraternity

After Pope Francis and Grand Imam Al Tayyeb of Al-Azhar's Document for Human Fraternity and Living Together was signed jointly in Abu Dhabi in February 2020, he said, "we were inspired by that document to write a shorter version or a summary, in terms of a pledge, in order to get young people to be protagonists."

"Increasingly," he lamented, "we can see that in this region, young people, because of social media, can be attracted by extremism."

Therefore, he highlighted, "we wanted to counter this with a more positive vision of the world by having this pledge for unity and hope."

With all the crises, Mr. Chong observed, Singapore offers a model for hope.

"Singapore is a good place," he explained, "because it is a very advanced country where young people can do more not only for themselves and not only for Singapore, but for the region."

Empowered young people

"Many young people have started interreligious youth groups, and the Pope will meet them at this occasion.

This, he said, is a great opportunity with the Pope presence in order to further encourage this movement, which is "all led by young people."

"Many different facets of young people are contributing in terms of ideas on how to live dialogue in a concrete way, not just speaking, but through technology, through leadership programs, through engagement with the community. " What we are trying to do, he explained, "is also to encourage more young people to be involved in interreligious dialogue. "

Holy Father's Visit

Mr. Chong said he personally is very excited about the vision of Pope Francis, as well as his choice to visit the diverse nations of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore together during this 45th Apostolic Journey abroad. 

"In my opinion," he said, "the Pope has a vision towards the future, that the future for the Church is also Asia."

Wherever Pope Francis goes, Mr Chong added, "he has been igniting friendships."

The Vatican Consultor praised the Journey as a "very exciting opportunity" that Pope Francis has given to them by coming there.

"He's making everyone feel that we want to be one family, even though they are not Catholics," he said. 

"I think it is very hard," Mr. Chong said, "to find a religious leader who can bring different faith, people of different color together and make them feel that they are one family."