End-of-life concerns among issues discussed by different faiths at event marking Nostra Aetate anniversary

The national event in Birmingham was celebrating 60 years of Vatican declaration on interfaith dialogue.

Representatives from six different religions attended a celebration at St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham to mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the ground-breaking declaration of the Second Vatican Council focusing on the Catholic Church’s relations with non-Christian religions.

The event included a panel discussion on the capacity of faith communities to discuss end-of-life concerns.

Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley presided at Sung Vespers, together with Archbishop of Westminster Cardinals Vincent Nichols and Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald MAfr, a former head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Local faith leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh communities also offered reflections.

Archbishop Longley, chair of the Bishops’ Conference’s Department for Dialogue and Unity, said, “Our friendship and dialogue with one another continue to bear much fruit through a mutual understanding and appreciation of the gifts that we share and of those truths we hold in common.”

An evening celebrating the anniversary will also take place at Farm Street Church in Mayfair tomorrow, Tuesday, with the theme, “A Journey into Hope: Celebrating Nostra Aetate.”

During the event, representatives from different religions will shared short readings on the theme of hope, taken from their own scriptures. There will be a reception afterwards at the London Jesuit Centre.

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for October is for collaboration between different religious traditions. He said, “Let us pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity. May the concrete examples of peace, justice and fraternity in religions inspire us to believe that it is possible to live and work together, beyond our differences. May religions not be used as weapons or walls, but rather lived as bridges and prophecy: making the dream of the common good credible, accompanying life, sustaining hope and being the yeast of unity in a fragmented world.”

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