Papal diplomats discuss Islam and gender at Jubilee
event
(Vatican Radio) Papal
diplomats from around the world are in Rome this week for a special Jubilee
event that includes both practical refresher seminars and moments of spiritual
reflection with the Holy Father.
Relations with Islam, gender
culture and other challenges facing the Church today are on the programme, as
Philippa Hitchen reports:
The year of mercy may be
drawing to a close but Pope Francis is maintaining a packed agenda of Jubilee
events. From September 15th to 17th he’s meeting with over a hundred
representatives of the Holy See working in locations right across the globe. Of
the 108 diplomatic missions in existence today, 103 are headed by archbishops
serving as papal nuncios, while the other five posts are permanent observers to
international organisations.
The Jubilee event began on
Thursday morning with Mass, presided over by Vatican Secretary of State,
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in St Peter’s Basilica, followed by two seminars held
in the Synod Hall. The first of these was focused on the Pope, the Church and
the world today, led by Professor Piero Coda, president of the Sofia University
Institute founded by the Focolari movement just south of Florence. The second
session, led by Rev. Robert Ghal from the Pontifical Holy Cross University in
Rome is entitled ‘Genesis and the case of gender culture’ and will be followed
by dinner with Pope Francis at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican gardens.
On Friday morning
participants will have a working session with officials from the Secretariat of
State and in the afternoon they’ll attend a third seminar, focused on
interreligious dialogue and relations with Islam, led by Cardinal Jean-Louis
Tauran. In the evening, they’ll join heads of all the Curial offices and
ambassadors accredited to the Holy See for a reception in the Vatican museums.
The final day, Saturday, will
include many of the 40 retired apostolic nuncios and will be a time for
spiritual communion, starting with Mass concelebrated with Pope Francis in the
Santa Marta chapel. That’ll be followed by a reflection from Mgr Pierangelo
Sequeri of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Life. The
diplomats will then make their way through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica
before meeting together with Pope Francis in the Clementine hall of the
apostolic palace.
The event concludes with a
lunch in Santa Marta, but the Pope has invited all 163 staff members of the
nunciatures and diplomatic missions for their own Jubilee here in the Vatican
on November 18th.
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