VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Upon the suggestion of the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Pope Francis has reportedly tasked the Vatican to organize a high-level inter-religious dialogue event between Muslims and Catholics this year.
As the outcome of a February 10 private audience with Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Pope Francis has instructed the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue to coordinate yet another event to promote fraternity between Islam and Catholicism.
Hafiz’s idea of “a new international meeting” for a “brotherhood” of Christians and Muslims in Europe on a “continental scale” was presented to the Pope during their encounter, which is their second such meeting after they first met in 2022.
Christians and Muslims in Europe
“How many of our prayers have risen like two shores called to join together, how many hearts have opened to the certainty that the love of God is reflected in our will to love all his creatures?” So began the message delivered by Hafiz to Pope Francis on Monday, during which Paris’ leading Muslim sought to win papal support for the cause of Muslims “who are facing increasing stigma.”
“For too many years, in the West, Islam has been perceived through the distorting prism of terrorism and violence. This misperception fuels the discourses that are hostile to Muslims, who are facing increasing stigma,” Hafiz stated in his message.
READ: Here’s why Pope Francis is wrong to say Muslims and Catholics worship the same God
Hafiz cited Francis’ 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, which promoted inter-religious activity and “fraternity” and which is widely argued to promote religious indifferentism, highlighting the theme of “dialogue.”
Along with Pope Francis’ equally controversial 2019 Abu Dhabi document on human fraternity –itself a key text showing Francis’ desire for collaboration with Islamic leaders, and which was heralded by Hafiz as “a turning point in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims” – Fratelli Tutti has become the “go-to” reference text for all such events relating to the topic of fraternity.
But “fraternity” between Christians and Muslims in Europe, said Hafiz, “is nonetheless threatened by indifference, dehumanization, fear of others and of the future.” This he partly attributed to how Islam is perceived by non-Muslims, as he urged Europe to “welcome” Muslims more than it does and added that Europe has “long been a land of diversity.”
“The Muslims of Europe are also acting as protectors, as citizens, and intend to shape a peaceful future,” said Hafiz. “But the lands that welcomed them now seem to be inhabited by fear. Many Europeans are giving up hope, locking themselves into a narrow vision of themselves and rejecting those they no longer see as brothers and sisters.”
“For too many years, in the West, Islam has been perceived through the distorting prism of terrorism and violence,” added Hafiz. “This misperception fuels anti-Muslim discourse, which in turn leads to growing stigmatization.”
Citing the 2019 Abu Dhabi declaration, which Francis has himself often cites in ecumenical and inter-religious events, Hafiz urged increased unity between Christians and Muslims since he said they are “members of the same family of faith in God”:
Our fellow citizens, both Christians and Muslims, need to recognize each other as members of the same family of faith in God and of profound values, in a dialogue where differences do not distance but bear witness to the richness of divine Creation. Pope John Paul II thus addressed young Muslims: we believe in the same God, the living God, who created the world and cares for his creatures.
A new inter-religious event for unity
Pope Francis has regularly championed and attended key ecumenical and inter-religious events through the nearly 12-year course of his pontificate, many of which have been “in the spirit” of the controversial 1986 Assisi meeting, at which Pope John Paul II prayed together with Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and representatives of many other religions.
READ: Pope Francis: ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’
Speaking to gloria.tv in 2020, Bishop Athanasius Schneider stated that the Assisi meeting was a “preparation” for the worship of the Pachamama statues in the Vatican Gardens, as it accustomed Catholics to the “erroneous teaching … that all religions are on the same level.”
In light of this same meeting, Hafiz asked Francis to lead an event “marking the friendship of the Christians and Muslims of Europe, in the spirit of the inter-religious meetings of Assisi initiated on October 27, 1986, and in memory of their exceptional significance.”
Hafiz offered his own city of Paris as a home for the possible 2025 event, while also suggesting it could be named after St. Augustine who is “a figure of convergence between the lands of the East and the West.”
Europe, he said, must be “true to its humanist heritage, where everyone, whatever their faith, can be respectful and be respected.”
“Religions can offer a vision to societies plunged into uncertainty. To this end, we must reaffirm the need for interreligious dialogue.”
Catholicism and Islam: related or not?
Despite Hafiz’s claim of Christians and Muslims being united in a family of faith, theologians have strongly rejected such a notion, as outlined by this correspondent.
READ: Here’s why Pope Francis is wrong to say Muslims and Catholics worship the same God
The Abu Dhabi text promoting fraternity and unity, especially between Christians and Muslims, has been described as seemingly seeking to “overturn the doctrine of the Gospel” due to its promotion of equality of religions in a form of “fraternity.”
Leading Catholic prelates have carefully outlined how Islam is “not faith,” and how Catholics and Muslims do not worship the same God.
In the words of Islam’s holy text itself, it can be noted that there is an outright rejection of so many fundamental elements of Catholicism. Firstly, the Koran rejects the notion of God as a trinity; secondly, it rejects that God has a son, saying it is beneath Him to have one. Thirdly, Jesus is viewed simply as a messenger of God, necessitating the fact that Mary would not be the Mother of God.
READ: Pope Francis preaches ‘fraternity’ divorced from Catholicism at interfaith meetings in Bahrain
Notwithstanding this, Francis’ own relations with Islamic leaders have proliferated in recent years, as the Pope has regularly prioritized “fraternity” of the kind contained in his writings. In doing so, Francis is performing the natural continuation of the ecumenical drive which gained traction after Vatican II, and which was raised to new prominence by John Paul II at Assisi in 1986.