Grand Imam: ‘Pope Francis restores to humanity its consciousness'

[Vouthon]

Two stories relating to Fratelli tutti (Pope Francis's latest encyclical) both concerning Muslim friends of the Holy Father, which I found uplifting:


Grand Imam: ‘Pope Francis restores to humanity its consciousness' - Vatican News

On Sunday, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb tweeted his reaction to Pope Francis’s Encyclical, Fratelli tutti.

Via twitter, the Grand Imam said:

“My brother, Pope Francis’s message, Fratelli tutti, is an extension of the Document on Human Fraternity, and reveals a global reality in which the vulnerable and marginalized pay the price for unstable positions and decisions… It is a message that is directed to people of good will, whose consciences are alive and restores to humanity consciousness.”

Al-Tayyeb co-signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together with Pope Francis in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi.

Fratelli tutti is the Pope’s third Encyclical, and contains several citations from the Document on Human Fraternity.

First Muslim to ever present a papal encyclical praises ‘Fratelli Tutti’

“I was really very moved when I first read Pope Francis’s message. I felt that the pope is representing me in every word, in everything he said,” Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salem, a Muslim, told America in an interview after speaking at the Vatican presentation of the pope’s new encyclical “Fratelli Tutti,” on Oct. 4.

He is the first Muslim ever to present a papal encyclical. Advisor to the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, he is now secretary general of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity set up to promote that historic document which the two religious leaders signed in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4, 2019.

He views the pope’s encyclical as “the guide to putting into practice the Human Fraternity document,” and he considers the latter as “the constitution” for fostering Christian-Muslim relations. “I see both documents as a very strong barrier against hatred and racism, and evil in general,” he said. “The real Islam and the real Christianity is against intolerance and these negative forces,” he said.

The judge told America, “When El Baba [the Arabic name for the pope] invited me at the end of July to participate in the presentation of the encyclical, he sent me the text in Arabic. And when I first read it, I saw it is an accurate plan for the world’s leaders. He really wants to achieve human fraternity.”

Judge Abdel Salam told America, “The friendship between El Baba and the Grand Imam is something exceptional, something that has not happened in modern history. It’s a chance to get their two religions closer, to bring the followers of their religions closer.”

He said, “The friendship is not only for outward appearance, it’s real. They make phone calls on birthdays and festival-days. They are making history".

 

[Eyes to See]

Of course this is not it. But it does show that they are still working towards it.

"Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape."-1 Thessalonians 5:3.

I know when the worldwide quarantine and social distancing was put into place I heard several Jehovah's Witnesses wonder if it would be the start of the "great tribulation" or at least lead up to it. Never said anything to anyone, not my place, but I always keep this scripture in mind.

When the end comes, it will be suddenly after a worldwide proclamation of "peace and security!" Certainly that is not how the people of the world are feeling today. Could something happen to lead up to that tomorrow? Of course.

It appears that the world's rulers, and perhaps religious leaders like those quoted in the OP may gather together and eventually come to an accord and make either one unique or several unprecedented proclamations to mislead mankind that true peace and security has been achieved. When that happens....that IS the end.

 

[Left Coast]

Two stories relating to Fratelli tutti (Pope Francis's latest encyclical) both concerning Muslim friends of the Holy Father, which I found uplifting:


Grand Imam: ‘Pope Francis restores to humanity its consciousness' - Vatican News

On Sunday, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb tweeted his reaction to Pope Francis’s Encyclical, Fratelli tutti.

Via twitter, the Grand Imam said:

“My brother, Pope Francis’s message, Fratelli tutti, is an extension of the Document on Human Fraternity, and reveals a global reality in which the vulnerable and marginalized pay the price for unstable positions and decisions… It is a message that is directed to people of good will, whose consciences are alive and restores to humanity consciousness.”

Al-Tayyeb co-signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together with Pope Francis in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi.

Fratelli tutti is the Pope’s third Encyclical, and contains several citations from the Document on Human Fraternity.

First Muslim to ever present a papal encyclical praises ‘Fratelli Tutti’

“I was really very moved when I first read Pope Francis’s message. I felt that the pope is representing me in every word, in everything he said,” Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salem, a Muslim, told America in an interview after speaking at the Vatican presentation of the pope’s new encyclical “Fratelli Tutti,” on Oct. 4.

He is the first Muslim ever to present a papal encyclical. Advisor to the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, he is now secretary general of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity set up to promote that historic document which the two religious leaders signed in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4, 2019.

He views the pope’s encyclical as “the guide to putting into practice the Human Fraternity document,” and he considers the latter as “the constitution” for fostering Christian-Muslim relations. “I see both documents as a very strong barrier against hatred and racism, and evil in general,” he said. “The real Islam and the real Christianity is against intolerance and these negative forces,” he said.

The judge told America, “When El Baba [the Arabic name for the pope] invited me at the end of July to participate in the presentation of the encyclical, he sent me the text in Arabic. And when I first read it, I saw it is an accurate plan for the world’s leaders. He really wants to achieve human fraternity.”

Judge Abdel Salam told America, “The friendship between El Baba and the Grand Imam is something exceptional, something that has not happened in modern history. It’s a chance to get their two religions closer, to bring the followers of their religions closer.”

He said, “The friendship is not only for outward appearance, it’s real. They make phone calls on birthdays and festival-days. They are making history".

Man, conservative Catholics must be going nuts over this.

 

[pearl]

He said, “The friendship is not only for outward appearance, it’s real. They make phone calls on birthdays and festival-days. They are making history".

Its mindful of the years long friendship between Pope Benedict and Rabbi Jacob Neusner.

 

[pearl]

Man, conservative Catholics must be going nuts over this.

They've been 'going nuts' since Francis washed and kissed the feet of a Muslim on Holy Thursday.

 

[Cooky]

Some Traditional Catholics tend to be more triumphalist. Some aren't.

 

[exchemist]

Of course this is not it. But it does show that they are still working towards it.

"Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape."-1 Thessalonians 5:3.

I know when the worldwide quarantine and social distancing was put into place I heard several Jehovah's Witnesses wonder if it would be the start of the "great tribulation" or at least lead up to it. Never said anything to anyone, not my place, but I always keep this scripture in mind.

When the end comes, it will be suddenly after a worldwide proclamation of "peace and security!" Certainly that is not how the people of the world are feeling today. Could something happen to lead up to that tomorrow? Of course.

It appears that the world's rulers, and perhaps religious leaders like those quoted in the OP may gather together and eventually come to an accord and make either one unique or several unprecedented proclamations to mislead mankind that true peace and security has been achieved. When that happens....that IS the end.

How very constructive of you.

 

[sun rise]

This is a small step, to be sure, from one perspective, but it's a very good one.

 

[MNoBody]

very odd that the 3 major religions on the planet.....all who ostensibly honor the SAME deity, and history shows a house [world] with power hungry brats that fight and disagree more than they have ever agreed.
political expedience does not validate these pretenses and posturing.
what should one think about a deity so divided against itself...
such great role models.
ah what else does one expect from life in what is obviously hell more than anything else it was ever depicted as being.
cheers.

 

[Debater Slayer]

The Grand Imam is a deeply extremist and hateful individual. He has stated that ex-Muslims, even ones born into Islam rather than having converted to it, should face the death penalty. He has also made numerous statements demonizing atheists and LGBT people (e.g., by calling homosexuality a "sickness" shortly after LGBT activists had been arrested and abused).

His response to Pope Francis may seem positive--and from a pure PR standpoint, it is--but I don't think anyone should let it conceal the reality of his hateful rhetoric and extremist track record.

 

[Vouthon]

Man, conservative Catholics must be going nuts over this.

They are! As has been the case pretty much throughout this pontificate

Of interest, I am - at long last, after what feels like an eternity these past eight years - discerning something of a perceptible shift in opinion; in terms of online activity, at least, within Catholic circles.

Many now appear to have had quite 'enough' of the right-wing libertarian crowd - predominantly, it must be admitted, this tends to be an American 'church 'problem' in particular - intent on spreading their neoliberal-economic gospel and nationalist-populism under the cover of Christianity, all the while viciously defaming their own Supreme Pontiff for speaking in defence of gospel values and in continuity with the social teaching of the Church Fathers of the patristic era.

The curious and fundamentally "un-Catholic" - indeed heretical - notion promoted by religious neoconservatives in the US, that morality should be ordained in the bedroom but not the boardroom or the statehouse, has never found any endorsement in Catholic doctrine. Not today, not yesterday and certainly not 2,000 years ago.

Francis is giving them nowhere left to 'hide' behind their double-standards, that's the nub. In his encyclical, Pope Francis reiterated his belief that “if one person lacks what is necessary to live with dignity, it is because another person is detaining it.” He concluded that “the right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods,” which is an ancient patristic doctrine first defined by the likes of St. Ambrose of Milan, St. John Chrysostom, Pope St. Gregory the Great et al and in modern times by Gaudium et Spes (1965) during Vatican II, Pope Paul VI in the 1970s and Pope John Paul II in the 1980s.

 

[Vouthon]

The Grand Imam is a deeply extremist and hateful individual. He has stated that ex-Muslims, even ones born into Islam rather than having converted to it, should face the death penalty. He has also made numerous statements demonizing atheists and LGBT people (e.g., by calling homosexuality a "sickness" shortly after LGBT activists had been arrested and abused).

This is both interesting and I must admit disconcerting to learn, not least since Pope Francis is known in general for being the opposite kind of religious personality - a man of tolerance, sincere dialogue and critical engagement with the secular world, as well as a consistent opponent of ideological absolutism (especially where this undermines, or comes into conflict with, individual human dignity); all without betraying the timeless doctrinal principles and fundamental beliefs derived from the religious tradition he represents as its head.

Certainly, Francis has said in terms of LGBT people, for example:


Pope Francis to parents of L.G.B.T. children: ‘God loves your children as they are.’

Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the public audience in the Renaissance courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican...

As he bade them farewell, the association gave the pope a rainbow-colored T-shirt with the words “In love there is no fear” emblazoned on it...​

The document on Human Fraternity which His Holiness signed jointly with the Grand Imam in 2019 committed both of them, as leaders representing the Catholic and Muslim worlds, before the one God both professed to worship, to denouncing extremism and promoting values commensurate with a culture of peace and freedom of conscience:

Document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahamad al-Tayyib (Abu Dhabi, 4 February 2019) | Francis

Document on Human Fraternity - Wikipedia

"In the name of God and of everything stated thus far; Al-Azhar al-Sharif and the Muslims of the East and West, together with the Catholic Church and the Catholics of the East and West, declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard...

We, who believe in God and in the final meeting with Him and His judgment, on the basis of our religious and moral responsibility, and through this Document, call upon ourselves, upon the leaders of the world as well as the architects of international policy and world economy, to work strenuously to spread the culture of tolerance and of living together in peace; to intervene at the earliest opportunity to stop the shedding of innocent blood and bring an end to wars, conflicts, environmental decay and the moral and cultural decline that the world is presently experiencing...

History shows that religious extremism, national extremism and also intolerance have produced in the world, be it in the East or West, what might be referred to as signs of a “third world war being fought piecemeal”...

Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept".

​

It may be that you are right, perhaps this could be an exercise in good PR - or at least, on one dimension. And yet, the evidence available to us from the outside would appear to suggest that these two religious leaders really have struck up a genuinely sincere personal rapport and bond - as intimated by not only their frequent visits but phonecalls on holidays as well. I think they truly are friends by the looks of it, in spite of their at times very different theological approaches and worldviews.

Dare we hope that, through this apparently close friendship, the Grand Imam may imbibe a few lessons from his "brother" Pope Francis and reflect on how he might better exercise his religious office in the Islamic world, to mirror the pope's impact within the Christian one? If sworn word and oath before God mean anything, he did sign that document in good faith. His end of the bargain needs to be kept up, accordingly.

For his part, in his encyclical Fratelli tutti Pope Francis stated the Abu Dhabi document "was no mere diplomatic gesture, but a reflection born of dialogue and common commitment." Whether he is right or naively wrong, I don't know. But I hope he's right.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Pope Francis to parents of L.G.B.T. children: ‘God loves your children as they are.’

Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the public audience in the Renaissance courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican...

As he bade them farewell, the association gave the pope a rainbow-colored T-shirt with the words “In love there is no fear” emblazoned on it..

Sorry to butt in, but LGBT people by and large aren't buying it until we see those pretty words backed up by action. How we're treated by the Church and its policies towards us haven't changed at all under Francis, despite all his flowery PR. We still can't get married, we're not supposed to take Communion, can't be godparents/sponsors, the Church refuses to recognize the gender identity of trans people and many senior clergy say vile things about LGBT people still. If you're an out and well-adjusted LGBT person, there's really no place for you in the Catholic Church to live openly and happily. The Vatican also likes to explain away most of his tolerant statements, too.

 

[Debater Slayer]

This is both interesting and I must admit disconcerting to learn, not least since Pope Francis is known in general for being the opposite kind of religious personality - a man of tolerance, sincere dialogue and critical engagement with the secular world, as well as a consistent opponent of ideological absolutism (especially where this undermines, or comes into conflict with, individual human dignity); all without betraying the timeless doctrinal principles and fundamental beliefs derived from the religious tradition he represents as its head.

Certainly, Francis has said in terms of LGBT people, for example:


Pope Francis to parents of L.G.B.T. children: ‘God loves your children as they are.’

Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the public audience in the Renaissance courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican...

As he bade them farewell, the association gave the pope a rainbow-colored T-shirt with the words “In love there is no fear” emblazoned on it...​

The document on Human Fraternity which His Holiness signed jointly with the Grand Imam in 2019 committed both of them, as leaders representing the Catholic and Muslim worlds, before the one God both professed to worship, to denouncing extremism and promoting values commensurate with a culture of peace and freedom of conscience:

Document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahamad al-Tayyib (Abu Dhabi, 4 February 2019) | Francis

Document on Human Fraternity - Wikipedia

"In the name of God and of everything stated thus far; Al-Azhar al-Sharif and the Muslims of the East and West, together with the Catholic Church and the Catholics of the East and West, declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard...

We, who believe in God and in the final meeting with Him and His judgment, on the basis of our religious and moral responsibility, and through this Document, call upon ourselves, upon the leaders of the world as well as the architects of international policy and world economy, to work strenuously to spread the culture of tolerance and of living together in peace; to intervene at the earliest opportunity to stop the shedding of innocent blood and bring an end to wars, conflicts, environmental decay and the moral and cultural decline that the world is presently experiencing...

History shows that religious extremism, national extremism and also intolerance have produced in the world, be it in the East or West, what might be referred to as signs of a “third world war being fought piecemeal”...

Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept".

​

It may be that you are right, perhaps this could be an exercise in good PR - or at least, on one dimension. And yet, the evidence available to us from the outside would appear to suggest that these two religious leaders really have struck up a genuinely sincere personal rapport and bond - as intimated by not only their frequent visits but phonecalls on holidays as well. I think they truly are friends by the looks of it, in spite of their at times very different theological approaches and worldviews.

Dare we hope that, through this apparently close friendship, the Grand Imam may imbibe a few lessons from his "brother" Pope Francis and reflect on how he might better exercise his religious office in the Islamic world, to mirror the pope's impact within the Christian one? If sworn word and oath before God mean anything, he did sign that document in good faith. His end of the bargain needs to be kept up, accordingly.

For his part, in his encyclical Fratelli tutti Pope Francis stated the Abu Dhabi document "was no mere diplomatic gesture, but a reflection born of dialogue and common commitment." Whether he is right or naively wrong, I don't know. But I hope he's right.

I won't trust Francis's mere proclamation that the document was "no mere diplomatic gesture" until we see real-world results. As has been pointed out, the Church's track record is still morally tarnished and quite dubious, and he hasn't changed that in any significant way.

Furthermore, I think it is worth noting that the Grand Imam doesn't consider homosexuals or atheists to be "vulnerable" or "marginalized" groups; he considers them guilty and criminal and as such deserving of condemnation and punishment. So his endorsement of supporting the "vulnerable and marginalized" definitely excludes quite a few groups his extremist beliefs disagree with, as he has demonstrated in multiple other statements and on the occasions where he took the side of oppressors instead of standing up for equality.

 

[Vouthon]

I won't trust Francis's mere proclamation that the document was "no mere diplomatic gesture" until we see real-world results.

That's true, none of us should. The proof, afterall, is in the pudding - as that old adage goes!