Pope Francis will celebrate
the United Nations' first International Day of Human Fraternity
on February 4 with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed at Abu Dhabi,
capital of the United Arab Emirates, with the participation of
the Grande Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, UN
Secretary-General, António Guterres and other personalities, the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said Monday.
On the occasion, the Zayed Prize for Human Fraternity will be
awarded, which is inspired by the historic Document on Human
Fraternity Francis signed with the grand
imam of al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi during his
first-ever visit to the Arabian peninsula in February 2019.
The meeting and the award ceremony will be streamed in several
languages starting at 14:30 (Rome time) - 13.30 (GMT time) - by
Vatican News, the multimedia information portal of the Holy See,
and broadcast by Vatican Media.
"This celebration responds to a clear call that Pope Francis has
been making to all humanity to build a present of peace in the
encounter with the other," stressed Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso
Guixot MCCJ, President of the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue. "In October 2020, that invitation
became even more vivid with the Encyclical Fratelli tutti. These
meetings are a way to achieve true social friendship, as the
Holy Father asks of us," he added.
The date is no coincidence. On 4 February 2019, during an
Apostolic Journey the Pope made to the United Arab Emirates,
together with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (Cairo), Ahmad
Al-Tayyeb, they signed the Document on Human Fraternity for
World Peace and Living Together. The Pope and the Grand Imam
spent almost half a year drafting this Document before
announcing it together during such a historic visit.
A few months later, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity was
established to translate the aspirations of the Human Fraternity
Document into sustained engagements and concrete actions to
foster fraternity, solidarity, respect and mutual understanding.
The Higher Committee is planning an Abrahamic Family House, with
a synagogue, a church and a mosque, on Saadiyat Island, Abu
Dhabi. It established an independent jury to receive nominations
for the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and choose winners
whose work demonstrates a lifelong commitment to human
fraternity. The 2021 prize will be awarded on 4 February.
On 21 December 2020, the United Nations General Assembly
unanimously declared 4 February as International Day of Human
Fraternity. "In this decisive phase of human history, we are at
a crossroads: on the one hand, universal fraternity in which
humanity rejoices, and on the other, an acute misery that will
increase the suffering and deprivation of people," Judge Mohamed
Mahmoud Abdel Salam, secretary general of the High Committee of
Human Fraternity, underlined during his presentation of the
encyclical Fratelli tutti on 4 October 2020.
Pope Francis has encouraged the Holy See to join in the
celebration of International Human Fraternity Day under the
leadership of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue. In the January edition of the Pope's Video, "At the
service of human fraternity," the Holy Father highlights the
importance of focusing on what is essential to the faith of all
faiths: worship of God and love of neighbour. "Fraternity leads
us to open ourselves to the Father of all and to see in the
other a brother, a sister, to share life, or to support one
another, to love, to know," Pope Francis emphasises in the
video.
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was
instituted in 1964 by Pope Paul VI with the aim of working on
relations and dialogue between the Catholic Church and the
faithful of other religions. It is currently chaired by Cardinal
Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot.
Among its main activities, it collaborates with bishops and
Episcopal Conferences on matters related to interreligious
dialogue; it holds meetings, visits and conferences with leaders
of other religions; and it publishes various materials to
promote dialogue between different faiths.
The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity is made up of different
international religious leaders, scholars and cultural leaders
who were inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity and are
dedicated to sharing its message of mutual understanding and
peace.
Their main work is to act concretely according to the
aspirations of the Document on Human Fraternity and to spread
the values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. The
Secretary General of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity is
Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salam.
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