VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis extended a hand to those who don’t belong to any religion, urging them on Wednesday (March 20) to work with believers to build peace and protect the environment.
In his first ecumenical meeting, the new pope greeted representatives from Christian churches and other religions, including Jewish and Muslim leaders, who had come to Rome to attend his inaugural Mass on Tuesday.
Francis said that he intends to follow “on the path of ecumenical dialogue” set for the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
But he also reached out to those who don’t belong “to any religious tradition” but feel the “need to search for the truth, the goodness and the beauty of God.”
Francis echoed his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, saying that the “attempt to eliminate God and the divine from the horizon of humanity” has often led to catastrophic violence.
But Francis, who has set a humbler tone to the papacy since his election on March 13, added that atheists and believers can be “precious allies” in their efforts “to defend the dignity of man, in the building of a peaceful coexistence between peoples and in the careful protection of creation.”
Francis also stressed the “very special spiritual bond” between Catholics and Jews.
“There is no doubt that Catholic-Jewish relations will go from strength to even greater strength during Pope Francis’s pontificate,” said Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, after meeting with Francis.
Earlier on Wednesday, the pope met privately with the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
According to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bartholomew and Francis are planning a joint visit to Jerusalem in 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1964 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.
That meeting led to the cancellation of the reciprocal excommunications between the leaders of western and eastern Christianity in 1054, otherwise known as the “Great Schism.”
Bartholomew attended Francis’ inauguration on Tuesday, the first Patriarch to do so in over 900 years.
Interfaith clergy deliver loaves and fish to budget debate
By Caleb Bell, Religion News Service
(RNS) Surrounded by baskets of fish and bread, with the Capitol at their backs, clergy attacked the Republican budget plan that came before the House Wednesday (March 20).
The event’s theme-“It doesn’t take a miracle”-drew from the biblical story of the feeding of the five thousand, where Jesus turned a single meal of bread and fish into enough for thousands of people.
“It is immoral to cut government-supported programs that address human suffering while continuing to … pour billions of dollars into corporations,” said Sister Simone Campbell, a speaker at the rally.
Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobbying group, emphasized that “there is enough to go around if we share.”
The event was hosted by liberal Christian and Jewish advocates.
The advocates described the budget proposal created by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan as “draconian” and “immoral” because it cuts government programs that help poorer citizens.
“The real issue is how we deal with the economic priorities of the nation,” said J. Herbert Nelson II, the director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness. “This whole nation needs to see a demonstration of how Jesus took little and made much with it.”
Robert Shapiro, a fellow at the Georgetown University School of Business, said that the Ryan budget probably isn’t going to pass. He took issue with the religious advocates’ approach to economic issues.
“The problem with the moral case in politics is that morality differs from person to person. It gets you into a situation where compromise is impossible,” Shapiro said.
Nelson and Campbell have lobbied about GOP budget plans before. In the summer of 2012, Campbell organized the Nuns on the Bus tour, which traveled the country speaking out against Republican budget proposals.
Ryan, who is Catholic, has said his budget accords with his church’s social teaching, including the idea that communities are best served by local charities and leaders.
