Archbishop Miller marked the first International Day of Human Fraternity Thursday by offering Mass for the “fraternity and social friendship” called for in Pope Francis’ recent encyclical Fratelli tutti.
The archbishop said he hopes the new observance will help “our hearts be open to all the peoples and nations of the earth,” quoting the Pope’s 2020 encyclical on fraternity and solidarity.
On Dec. 21, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared Feb. 4 as International Day of Human Fraternity. It came as the as the result of Christian-Muslim cooperation to promote peace, harmony and intercultural dialogue in the world and following the release of Fratelli tutti in October.
Feb. 4 was the date in 2019 when during an apostolic journey the Pope made to the United Arab Emirates, together with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (Cairo), Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, they signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. The Pope and the Grand Imam spent almost half a year drafting the document before announcing it together during such a historic visit.
Pope Francis will celebrate the International Day of Human Fraternity Thursday in a virtual event hosted by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, with the participation of the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb; Secretary General António Guterres of the United Nations; and other dignitaries.
On the same occasion, the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, which is inspired by the human fraternity document, will be awarded. The meeting and the award ceremony will be streamed in several languages starting at 5:30 a.m. (PST) by Vatican News, the multimedia information portal of the Holy See, and broadcast by Vatican Media.
“This celebration responds to a clear call that Pope Francis has been making to all humanity to build a present of peace in the encounter with the other,” said Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot MCCJ, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. “In October 2020, that invitation became even more vivid with the Encyclical Fratelli tutti. These meetings are a way to achieve true social friendship, as the Holy Father asks of us,” he added.
Pope Francis has encouraged the Holy See to join in the celebration of International Human Fraternity Day under the leadership of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In the January edition of the Pope’s Video, “At the service of human fraternity,” the Holy Father highlights the importance of focusing on what is essential to the faith of all faiths: worship of God and love of neighbour. “Fraternity leads us to open ourselves to the Father of all and to see in the other a brother, a sister, to share life, or to support one another, to love, to know,” Pope Francis emphasizes in the video.
“In this decisive phase of human history, we are at a crossroads: on the one hand, universal fraternity in which humanity rejoices, and on the other, an acute misery that will increase the suffering and deprivation of people,” Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salam, secretary general of the High Committee of Human Fraternity, said Oct. 4 as he took part in the presentation of the encyclical Fratelli tutti at the Vatican.
With Vatican News files.
