Regional Interfaith Dialogue, Connecting and Cooperating for Peace and Harmony In the Asia-Pacific region
Auschwitz-Birkenau, nearby Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis is on a visit for World Youth Day. The Pope went today to these places of horror, where 1.5 million people met death; to pay homage to Saint Maximillian Kolbe and meet with 12 survivors of the Holocaust and 22 “Righteous among the Nations”. Pope Francis took time for recollection and prayer at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia has released a statement addressing the killing of Fr Hamel in France this week. Father Hamel was a member of the Normandy Interfaith Committee and was well respected.
Whichever faith they follow, competitors coming to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will find a place to worship in the athletes’ village. The Inter-religious centre at the Olympic and Paralympic Village will serve athletes of every faith, says coordinator, Father Leandros.
The Olympic Village houses a multi-faith center complete with chaplains and prayer spaces.
Two men pledging allegiance to Islamic State attacked a Roman Catholic church during Mass on Tuesday, killing a priest and gravely injuring another person in the first assault on a church amid a string of recent terror attacks on Western Europe. The priest, Father Hamel, was a member of the Normandy Interfaith Committee and was well respected.
An international congress will be held at the Vatican in October to reflect on the collaboration between faith and sport to improve man’s life. The meeting is organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations addressed this week the High Level Thematic Debate on Human Rights. Archbishop Bernardino Auza affirmed in the address that in order for talk of human rights to be effective and useful, there must be an understanding of where human rights come from in the first place. Moreover, the archbishop reminded, “the term ‘human right’ must be strictly and prudently applied, lest it become a rhetorical catch-all, endlessly expanded to suit the passing tastes of the age.”
The Holy See’s Pontifical Council for Culture (PCC) and Allianz today announced that Allianz is the Founding Partner of the Sport at the Service of Humanity Conference, conceived by the Council under the leadership of its President, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. “Challenge yourself in the game of life, as you do in the game of sport,” are the words of Pope Francis, which have inspired this interfaith conference on faith and sport to take place in Rome, October 5 to 7, 2016.
Every now and then, we hear about a “new voice in the neighbourhood” and it turns out that the so-called new voice is the voice of youth. And the Dalai Lama – along with his friend Desmond Tutu – often spend time listening to youth. And this time, the Dalai Lama was with one of the well-known icons of youth, Lady Gaga, who frequently represents gender fluidity. Here, the Dalai Lama, Lady Gaga, and the billionaire business tycoon Philip Anschutz shared a stage on Sunday during a panel presentation for The United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI made one of his rare public appearances on Tuesday to be feted by his successor Pope Francis. Benedict, an 89-year-old German, stood without a cane for part of a ceremony in a Vatican hall to mark the 65th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.