Pope Leo makes prayer intention for collaboration between religious traditions 60 years since Nostra aetate

Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his prayer intention for October to collaboration between different religious traditions.

Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his prayer intention for October to collaboration between different religious traditions. This choice coincides with the 60th anniversary of Nostra aetate, the document of the Second Vatican Council which affirmed all that is “true and holy” in the major world religions and called Catholics to engage in interfaith dialogue and collaboration.

The new edition of “The Pope Video” for the month of October, which was released on Tuesday, begins, “Let us pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity.” The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, a Pontifical Society with the mission of mobilising Catholics through prayer and action, disseminates the Pope’s prayer intentions through The Pope Video each month.

The prayer continues, “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.”

Since the start of his pontificate, Pope Leo has reiterated his call for “building bridges” and has lamented the weaponisation of religion to fuel conflict. He reaffirmed the message of Nostra aetate at a special audience for ecumenical and interreligious delegations the day after the inauguration of his ministry in May.

The Pope Video marks the beginning of a month in which various initiatives will reflect on the legacy of Nostra aetate. Initially conceived as a response to antisemitism, Nostra aetate was expanded to include statements on all the major faith traditions. It is regarded as a landmark shift in the Church’s relationship with Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism and a foundational document for interfaith dialogue.

The video includes historic images of meeting between religious leaders: Pope John Paul II in Assisi in 1986, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the Synagogue in Rome in 2010, the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi in 2019 under Pope Francis’ pontificate, and the most recent ecumenical meetings of Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican. It also intersperses these scenes with images showing interfaith encounters on a more local, personal level.

Cristóbal Fones SJ, the International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, emphasised that interreligious dialogue is as relevant to the parish level and the laity as it is to religious leaders: “Meetings between the leaders of various religions always make news, as they should. But the prayer Pope Leo XIV reads this month tells us that collaboration builds up even when it does not make the news, that is, in everyday life – getting to know and respect each other, learning from each other, praying together for humanity, defending and promoting peace in the places where we live.”

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