by Isabel Smyth

Pope Francis’ commitment to interfaith relations rested on a firm commitment to dialogue, respect for all, abiding friendships, a vision of human fraternity and harmony and a conviction that ‘it is an urgently needed and incomparable service to humanity, to the praise and glory of the Creator of all’.

He made history when in 2014 he invited his friends from Argentina, Rabbi Skorka, rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, and Muslim leader Omar Abboud, to accompany him as part of the official delegation to the Middle East which included Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. They were also present in the Vatican garden when President Shimon Peres and President Mahmoud Abbas, responding to the Pope’s invitation on that trip, came together to pray with the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew for peace in that land that many faiths call holy.

On human fraternity

Francis’ visit to Abu Dabhi in 2019 was the first visit of a Pope to the Arabian Peninsula. He went there as a pilgrim of peace following in the footsteps of his namesake Francis of Assisi, who had met the Sultan al-Malik al Kamil 800 years ago during the Fifth Crusade.

Sister Isabel Smyth is a Sister of Notre Dame with a longstanding commitment to interfaith relations.