The message of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue for the holy month of the Muslim world: “A time to strengthen existing friendships between us, to promote peaceful coexistence
Vatican City () – “The month of Ramadan is important for you, but also for your friends, neighbors and believers of other religions, especially Christians.” This writes the Department for Interreligious Dialogue in its annual message addressed to Muslims around the world on the occasion of the holy month of Islam.
The text -entitled “Christians and Muslims: promoters of love and friendship”- bears the signatures of the president, card. Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, and the secretary, Bishop Indunil Kodithuwakku Janakaratne Kankanamalage. “During Ramadan,” they wrote, “existing friendships are strengthened and new ones are built, paving the way for a more peaceful, harmonious and joyful coexistence. This corresponds to the divine will for our communities, for all the members and communities of the one human family.”
It is a path that today faces many challenges and threats: “extremism, radicalism, polemics, disputes and violence for religious reasons”, all of it “fueled by the culture of hate”. Hence the need to “find the most appropriate ways to counteract and overcome this culture, instead strengthening love and friendship, in particular between Muslims and Christians, by virtue of the ties that unite us.”
The message dwells on the issue of differences “of religion, ethnicity, culture, language or political issues” that risk being perceived as a threat, giving rise to negative behaviors such as “suspicion, fear, rivalry, discrimination, exclusion, persecution, controversy, insult and defamation”. And “social media platforms are common spaces for these harmful behaviors, perverting their role as media and friendship into instruments of enmity and struggle.” The common challenge, therefore, becomes today to promote contrary behaviors together in the same social networks such as “respect, kindness, charity, friendship, mutual care for all, forgiveness, cooperation for the common good, helping all those in need and caring for the environment, so that our ‘common home’ continues to be a safe and pleasant place to live together in peace and joy”.
It is, therefore, about promoting “a culture of love and friendship” through “a healthy education of future generations in all the spaces in which they are formed: in the family, at school, in places worship and on social networks.
Finally, concluding their message, the heads of the Department for Interreligious Dialogue wished their Muslim brothers and sisters to “enjoy the abundant blessings of the Almighty during Ramadan and to celebrate ‘Id al-Fitr with the joy that springs from fidelity and love to the Almighty and to all the people with whom they live or meet”.
