Pope at Al-Azhar; religious leaders must 'unmask'
violence and hatred
(Vatican Radio) Religious leaders must denounce violations
of human rights and expose attempts to justify violence and hatred in the name
of God. That was Pope Francis’ message on Friday at the International
Peace Conference taking place at the Al-Azhar conference centre in
Cairo. The Pope’s words came at the start of his two day trip to Egypt,
following a courtesy visit to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi.
After listening to an opening address by the Grand
Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheik Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Pope spoke of Egypt’s
“inestimable cultural heritage”, saying such wisdom and open-mindedness is
urgently needed today to ensure peace for present and future generations.
Calling for respectful interreligious dialogue, Pope Francis said the
only alternative to a culture of civilized encounter is “the incivility of
conflict”. Recalling the visit of St Francis to the Sultan in Egypt eight
centuries ago, he called for dialogue based on sincerity and the courage to
accept differences.
Speaking of the covenant which God gave to Moses on Mount
Sinai, the Pope said that religion cannot simply be relegated to the private
sphere but, at the same time, religion must not be confused with the
political sphere or tempted by worldly powers that seek to exploit it.
Faith and violence are incompatible
At the heart of the law given to Moses, the Pope continued,
is the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. Violence, he stressed, “is the
negation of every authentic religious expression” and religious leaders
are called to “unmask” violence and selfishness masquerading as
sanctity. Together, he insisted, “Let us affirm the incompatibility of violence
and faith, belief and hatred”, upholding instead “the sacredness of every human
life”.
Weapons 'feed the cancer of war'
Echoing the words of Sheik Al-Tayeb, Pope Francis also
reiterated his appeal for an end to the arms trade, saying that if
weapons are produced and sold, “soon or later they will be used”. Only by
bringing to light “the murky manoeuvrings that feed the cancer of war can
its real causes be prevented”, he said.
Peacemakers, not populism
Finally the Pope stressed the importance of working to
eliminate poverty and to combat the current rise of populism that
does not promote stability and peace. Every unilateral action that does not
promote constructive and shared solutions, he warned, is “a gift to the
proponents of radicalism and violence”. What our world needs, he said, is
peacemakers, not fomenters of conflict; firefighters, not arsonists; preachers
of reconciliation, not instigators of destruction”.
Please find below the full address of Pope Francis at the
International Conference for Peace in Cairo's Al-Azhar Conference Centre
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
I consider it a great gift to be able to begin my Visit to
Egypt here, and to address you in the context of this International Peace
Conference. I thank the Grand Imam for having planned and organized this
Conference, and for kindly inviting me to take part. I would like to
offer you a few thoughts, drawing on the glorious history of this land, which
over the ages has appeared to the world as a land of civilizations and a land
of covenants.
A land of civilizations
From ancient times, the culture that arose along the banks
of the Nile was synonymous with civilization. Egypt lifted the lamp of
knowledge, giving birth to an inestimable cultural heritage, made up of wisdom
and ingenuity, mathematical and astronomical discoveries, and remarkable forms
of architecture and figurative art. The quest for knowledge and the value
placed on education were the result of conscious decisions on the part of the ancient
inhabitants of this land, and were to bear much fruit for the future.
Similar decisions are needed for our own future, decisions of peace and for
peace, for there will be no peace without the proper education of coming
generations. Nor can young people today be properly educated unless the
training they receive corresponds to the nature of man as an open and
relational being.
Education indeed becomes wisdom for life if it is capable of
“drawing out” of men and women the very best of themselves, in contact with the
One who transcends them and with the world around them, fostering a sense of
identity that is open and not self-enclosed. Wisdom seeks the other,
overcoming temptations to rigidity and closed-mindedness; it is open and in
motion, at once humble and inquisitive; it is able to value the past and set it
in dialogue with the present, while employing a suitable hermeneutics.
Wisdom prepares a future in which people do not attempt to push their own
agenda but rather to include others as an integral part of themselves.
Wisdom tirelessly seeks, even now, to identify opportunities for encounter and
sharing; from the past, it learns that evil only gives rise to more evil, and
violence to more violence, in a spiral that ends by imprisoning everyone.
Wisdom, in rejecting the dishonesty and the abuse of power, is centred on human
dignity, a dignity which is precious in God’s eyes, and on an ethics worthy of
man, one that is unafraid of others and fearlessly employs those means of
knowledge bestowed on us by the Creator.
Precisely in the field of dialogue, particularly
interreligious dialogue, we are constantly called to walk together, in the
conviction that the future also depends on the encounter of religions and
cultures. In this regard, the work of the Mixed Committee for Dialogue
between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Committee of
Al-Azhar for Dialogue offers us a concrete and encouraging example. Three
basic areas, if properly linked to one another, can assist in this dialogue:
the duty to respect one’s own identity and that of others, the courage to
accept differences, and sincerity of intentions.
The duty to respect one’s own identity and that of others,
because true dialogue cannot be built on ambiguity or a willingness to
sacrifice some good for the sake of pleasing others. The courage to
accept differences, because those who are different, either culturally or
religiously, should not be seen or treated as enemies, but rather welcomed as
fellow-travellers, in the genuine conviction that the good of each resides in
the good of all. Sincerity of intentions, because dialogue, as an authentic
expression of our humanity, is not a strategy for achieving specific goals, but
rather a path to truth, one that deserves to be undertaken patiently, in order
to transform competition into cooperation.
An education in respectful openness and sincere dialogue with
others, recognizing their rights and basic freedoms, particularly religious
freedom, represents the best way to build the future together, to be builders
of civility. For the only alternative to the civility of encounter is the
incivility of conflict. To counter effectively the barbarity of those who
foment hatred and violence, we need to accompany young people, helping them on
the path to maturity and teaching them to respond to the incendiary logic of
evil by patiently working for the growth of goodness. In this way, young
people, like well-planted trees, can be firmly rooted in the soil of history,
and, growing heavenward in one another’s company, can daily turn the polluted
air of hatred into the oxygen of fraternity.
In facing this great cultural challenge, one that is both
urgent and exciting, we, Christians, Muslims and all believers, are called to
offer our specific contribution: “We live under the sun of the one merciful
God… Thus, in a true sense, we can call one another brothers and sisters…
since without God the life of man would be like the heavens without the
sun”. May the sun of a renewed fraternity in the name of God rise
in this sun-drenched land, to be the dawn of a civilization of peace and
encounter. May Saint Francis of Assisi, who eight centuries ago came to
Egypt and met Sultan Malik al Kamil, intercede for this intention.
A land of covenants
In Egypt, not only did the sun of wisdom rise, but also the
variegated light of the religions shone in this land. Here, down the
centuries, differences of religion constituted “a form of mutual enrichment in
the service of the one national community”. Different faiths met
and a variety of cultures blended without being confused, while acknowledging
the importance of working together for the common good. Such “covenants”
are urgently needed today. Here I would take as a symbol the “Mount of
the Covenant” which rises up in this land. Sinai reminds us above all
that authentic covenants on earth cannot ignore heaven, that human beings cannot
attempt to encounter one another in peace by eliminating God from the horizon,
nor can they climb the mountain to appropriate God for themselves (cf. Ex
19:12).
This is a timely reminder in the face of a dangerous paradox
of the present moment. On the one hand, religion tends to be relegated to
the private sphere, as if it were not an essential dimension of the human
person and society. At the same time, the religious and political spheres
are confused and not properly distinguished. Religion risks being
absorbed into the administration of temporal affairs and tempted by the allure
of worldly powers that in fact exploit it. Our world has seen the
globalization of many useful technical instruments, but also a globalization of
indifference and negligence, and it moves at a frenetic pace that is difficult
to sustain. As a result, there is renewed interest in the great questions
about the meaning of life. These are the questions that the religions
bring to the fore, reminding us of our origins and ultimate calling. We
are not meant to spend all our energies on the uncertain and shifting affairs
of this world, but to journey towards the Absolute that is our goal. For
all these reasons, especially today, religion is not a problem but a part of
the solution: against the temptation to settle into a banal and uninspired
life, where everything begins and ends here below, religion reminds us of the
need to lift our hearts to the Most High in order to learn how to build the
city of man.
To return to the image of Mount Sinai, I would like to
mention the commandments that were promulgated there, even before they were
sculpted on tablets of stone. At the centre of this “decalogue”,
there resounds, addressed to each individual and to people of all ages, the
commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex 20:13). God, the lover of life,
never ceases to love man, and so he exhorts us to reject the way of violence as
the necessary condition for every earthly “covenant”. Above all and
especially in our day, the religions are called to respect this imperative,
since, for all our need of the Absolute, it is essential that we reject any
“absolutizing” that would justify violence. For violence is the negation
of every authentic religious expression.
As religious leaders, we are called, therefore, to unmask
the violence that masquerades as purported sanctity and is based more on the
“absolutizing” of selfishness than on authentic openness to the Absolute.
We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights,
to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and
to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name,
he is the God of peace, God salaam. Peace alone, therefore, is holy
and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would
profane his Name.
Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants
between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear “No!” to
every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of
religion or in the name of God. Together let us affirm the
incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred. Together let us
declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence,
whether physical, social, educational or psychological. Unless it is born
of a sincere heart and authentic love towards the Merciful God, faith is no
more than a conventional or social construct that does not liberate man, but
crushes him. Let us say together: the more we grow in the love of God,
the more we grow in the love of our neighbour.
Religion, however, is not meant only to unmask evil; it has an intrinsic
vocation to promote peace, today perhaps more than ever. Without
giving in to forms of facile syncretism, our task is that of praying for
one another, imploring from God the gift of peace, encountering one another,
engaging in dialogue and promoting harmony in the spirit of cooperation and
friendship. For our part, as Christians, “we cannot truly pray to God the
Father of all if we treat any people as other than brothers and sisters, for
all are created in God’s image”. Moreover, we know that, engaged in
a constant battle against the evil that threatens a world which is no longer “a
place of genuine fraternity”, God assures all those who trust in his love that
“the way of love lies open to men and that the effort to establish universal
brotherhood is not vain”. Rather, that effort is essential: it is
of little or no use to raise our voices and run about to find weapons for our
protection: what is needed today are peacemakers, not fomenters of conflict;
firefighters and not arsonists; preachers of reconciliation and not instigators
of destruction.
It is disconcerting to note that, as the concrete realities of people’s lives
are increasingly ignored in favour of obscure machinations, demagogic forms of
populism are on the rise. These certainly do not help to consolidate
peace and stability: no incitement to violence will guarantee peace, and every
unilateral action that does not promote constructive and shared processes is in
reality a gift to the proponents of radicalism and violence.
In order to prevent conflicts and build peace, it is essential that we spare no
effort in eliminating situations of poverty and exploitation where extremism
more easily takes root, and in blocking the flow of money and weapons destined
to those who provoke violence. Even more radically, an end must be put to
the proliferation of arms; if they are produced and sold, sooner or later they
will be used. Only by bringing into the light of day the murky
manoeuvrings that feed the cancer of war can its real causes be
prevented. National leaders, institutions and the media are obliged to
undertake this urgent and grave task. So too are all of us who play a
leading role in culture; each in his or her own area, we are charged by God, by
history and by the future to initiate processes of peace, seeking to lay a
solid basis for agreements between peoples and states. It is my hope that
this noble and beloved land of Egypt, with God’s help, may continue to respond
to the calling it has received to be a land of civilization and covenant, and
thus to contribute to the development of processes of peace for its beloved
people and for the entire region of the Middle East.
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with
you!
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