A Very Busy, Interfaith Friendly Pontiff

This news was gleaned from the Interfaith News Roundup of the Interfaith Observer. This is a very useful resource for those interested in interfaith dialogue and collaboration.

Pope Francis may have been the busiest cleric on the planet last month. He vigorously chided European leaders for being unconcerned about unemployment and not caring for the migrants drowning in the Mediterranean in their attempts to reach Europe, 3200 so far this year.

On a journey to Turkey, he condemned the persecution of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq and called for Christian-Muslim dialogue. He met Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (a powerful gesture towards healing an ancient breach), and they jointly signed a declaration urging leaders everywhere to help the victims of the Islamic State group and pleading for the right of Christians to remain in the lands where they have been at home for 2,000 years.

Back at the Vatican, Francis gathered with leaders from half a dozen faith traditions to initiate an anti-trafficking campaign with the goal of ending slavery by 2020.

In another historic first, Pope Francis visited a Pentacostal church and apologized for past oppression.

The pope also welcomed (though he didn’t organize) a conservative interfaith conference at the Vatican on marriage and the “complmentariety” of male and female.