Cardinal Ayuso: symbols
behind the Pope’s meeting with the Buddhist Patriarch
The President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, comments on the meeting of Pope
Francis with the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch in Bangkok, at which he was
present.
By Vatican News
The first signs of dialogue between the Buddhist and
Catholic traditions appeared half a century ago when the 17th Supreme Buddhist
Patriarch visited Pope Paul VI in the Vatican. Pope Francis recalled that visit
when he met with the present Supreme Buddhist Patriarch at the Wat Ratchabophit
Sathit Maha Simaram Temple in Bangkok, on Thursday morning.
Mutual respect
Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot is President of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He was present at that meeting.
In a video interview, he says that what emerged clearly from the conversation
between the Pope and the Patriarch was the appreciation they have for one
another, and for their respective traditions.
Symbolic moments
The Cardinal says it was symbolic that Pope Francis strongly
underlined how the presence of the Church is one of witness and service, and
how the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch recognized this. Equally symbolic, says
Cardinal Ayuso, was the fact the Supreme Patriarch waited to welcome Pope
Francis at the entrance to the Temple, rather than receiving him seated on his
thrown, as his predecessor had done on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s
visit to Thailand in 1984.
A gift for the East
Pope Francis presented gifts to the Supreme Buddhist
Patriarch, including a copy of the Abu Dhabi Declaration on “Human Fraternity
for World Peace and Living Together”. The Pope signed the document together
with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, during his visit to the United Arab Emirates
in February this year.
According to Cardinal Ayuso, including the Abu Dhabi
Declaration among the gifts exchanged, highlighted the importance of spreading
its message on Human Fraternity for peace and coexistence beyond the Middle
East to Asia.
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