“I pray for your homeland. I pray with all my heart for your homeland, which is suffering right now,” Pope Francis told the movement’s representatives at the start of his meeting with participants in a conference organized by the Focolare.
President Margaret Kalam is a Palestinian Catholic born in Haifa, Israel.
She led participants in an international religious conference to the Vatican on June 3 to meet with the Pope. The conference began in Castel Gandolfo on May 31 and was scheduled to end in Assisi on June 4.
Pope Francis thanked Karam and the members of the Focolare for “continuing the dialogue with people of non-Christian religions who share the same spirit of unity. This has been a very good revolutionary journey for the Church.”
The Pope said interreligious dialogue and friendship “can be said to be an experience animated by the Holy Spirit and rooted in the heart of Christ, in the yearning for love, communion and fraternity.”
The basis of his dialogue with Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs and others is “God’s love expressed through mutual love, listening, trust, hospitality and getting to know one another with full respect for each other’s identity,” the pope said. “Over time, friendship and cooperation have developed as we seek together to respond to the cry of the poor, as we care for creation and work for peace.”
The Pope said that because the Focolare movement has long focused on promoting unity and dialogue, many followers of other religions have identified with the movement’s spirituality and values and have begun to practice them among their own religious followers. “With these men and women we go beyond dialogue and feel like brothers and sisters who share the dream of a more united world in harmony in diversity.”
Pope Francis said the dialogue and bonds between the participants were “a source of joy and comfort, especially in these times of conflict, when religion is often misused to stoke divisions.”
“Interreligious dialogue is a prerequisite for world peace and is the duty not only of Christians but also of other religious communities,” the pope said, citing his 2013 exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.”
