Dear Muslim Friends,
1. On the occasion of your feast which concludes the
month of Ramadan, I would like to extend my best wishes for peace and joy
to you and, through this Message, propose this theme for our reflection:
Christians and Muslims: Together in overcoming poverty.
2. This Message of the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue has become a tradition cherished by us all, which
is looked forward to each year and this is certainly a cause for joy. It
has become, over the years, an occasion of cordial encounter in many
countries between many Christians and Muslims. It often addresses a matter
of shared concern, making it therefore conducive to a confident and open
exchange. Are not all these elements immediately perceived as signs of
friendship among us for which we should thank God?
3. Coming to the theme of this year, the human person
in a situation of impoverishment is undoubtedly a subject at the heart of
the precepts that, under different beliefs, we all hold dear. The
attention, the compassion and the help that we, brothers and sisters in
humanity, can offer to those who are poor, helping them to establish their
place in the fabric of society, is a living proof of the Love of the
Almighty, because it is man as such whom He calls us to love and help,
without distinction of affiliation.
We all know that poverty has the power to humiliate and
to engender intolerable sufferings; it is often a source of isolation,
anger, even hatred and the desire for revenge. It can provoke hostile
actions using any available means, even seeking to justify them on
religious grounds, or seizing another man’s wealth, together with his
peace and security, in the name of an alleged “divine justice”. This is
why confronting the phenomena of extremism and violence necessarily
implies tackling poverty through the promotion of integral human
development that Pope
Paul VI
defined as the “new name for peace” (Encyclical Letter
Populorum Progressio, 1975, n. 76).
In his recent Encyclical Letter
Caritas in Veritate on integral human development in charity and
truth, Pope
Benedict XVI, taking into consideration the current context of efforts
to promote development, underlines the need for a “new humanistic
synthesis” (n.
21), which, safeguarding the openness of man to God, gives him his
place as the earth’s “centre and summit” (n.
57). A true development, then, must be ordered “to the whole man and
to every man” (Populorum
Progressio, n. 42).
4. In his
talk on the occasion of the World Day for Peace, 1st
January 2009, His Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI distinguished two types of poverty: a poverty to be
combated and a poverty to be embraced.
The poverty to be combated is before the eyes of
everyone: hunger, lack of clean water, limited medical care and inadequate
shelter, insufficient educational and cultural systems, illiteracy, not to
mention also the existence of new forms of poverty “…in advanced wealthy
societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective,
moral and spiritual poverty…” (Message
for the World Day of Peace, 2009, n. 2).
The poverty to be embraced is that of a style of life
which is simple and essential, avoiding waste and respecting the
environment and the goodness of creation. This poverty can also be, at
least at certain times during the year, that of frugality and fasting. It
is the poverty which we choose which predisposes us to go beyond
ourselves, expanding the heart.
5. As believers, the desire to work together for a just
and durable solution to the scourge of poverty certainly also implies
reflecting on the grave problems of our time and, when possible, sharing a
common commitment to eradicate them. In this regard, the reference to the
aspects of poverty linked to the phenomena of globalization of our
societies has a spiritual and moral meaning, because all share the
vocation to build one human family in which all - individuals, peoples and
nations - conduct themselves according to the principles of fraternity and
responsibility.
6. A careful study of the complex phenomenon of poverty
directs us precisely towards its origin in the lack of respect for the
innate dignity of the human person and calls us to a global solidarity,
for example through the adoption of a “common ethical code” (John Paul II,
Address to The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, 27 April
2001, n. 4) whose norms would not only have a conventional character, but
also would necessarily be rooted in the natural law written by the Creator
in the conscience of every human being (cf. Rom 2, 14-15).
7. It seems that in diverse places of the world we have
passed from tolerance to a meeting together, beginning with common lived
experience and real shared concerns. This is an important step forward.
In giving everyone the riches of a life of prayer,
fasting and charity of one towards the other, is it not possible for
dialogue to draw on the living forces of those who are on the journey
towards God?
The poor question us, they challenge us, but above all
they invite us to cooperate in a noble cause: overcoming poverty!
Happy ‘Id al-Fitr!
Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran
President
Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata
Secretary
PONTIFICAL COUNCIL
FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
00120 Vatican City
Telephone: 0039.06.6988 4321
Fax: 0039.06.6988 4494
E-mail: dialogo@interrel.va
