Pope Francis: Never err in seeking dialogue

Pope Francis took time at the end of his General Audience Wednesday to greet members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations that is holding its twenty-fourth meeting which the Pope described as being like a “general assembly of all those professionally engaged in Jewish-Catholic dialogue.”

The fruits of Nostra Aetate

In written remarks handed to the Committee members, the Pontiff recalled that from the promulgation of Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council) until now, Jewish-Catholic dialogue has borne good fruit.  We share a rich spiritual patrimony, he said, that can and must be ever more esteemed and appreciated as we grow in mutual understanding, fraternity and shared commitment on behalf of others.”  

Key issues

Pope Francis noted that this meeting included a number of key issues. It is fitting, he said, “that you deal with timely issues such as our approach to refugees and how best to help them, the fight against the troubling recrudescence of anti-Semitism, and concern for the persecution of Christians in various parts of the world.”

Co-operation to build climate of tolerance and respect

The Pope also offered words of encouragement, saying, that “dialogue is the way to better understand one another and to work together in building a climate not only of tolerance but also of respect between religions.”  

Our strength, he added, “is the gentle strength of encounter, not of the extremism emerging in certain quarters today, which leads only to conflict.  One never errs in seeking dialogue.”