Vatican City: Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, has stressed that interreligious fraternity must become a lived reality in churches, schools and families, rather than remaining only in official declarations.
Speaking about the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra aetate, Cardinal Koovakad said the Catholic Church’s dialogue with people of other religions has developed strong institutional roots but continues to face new tensions. His remarks came with the release of A Journey of Hope, published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Cardinal Koovakad said the Church has moved from attitudes of rejection, mistrust and ignorance towards lasting friendships among religious leaders, shared educational and social projects, and joint responses to wars and humanitarian crises. He described interreligious dialogue as a constitutive part of the Church’s evangelising mission.
He also pointed to the development of dialogue with Islam and with major Asian traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as traditional African religions. The Dicastery’s work includes initiatives such as Pro Dialogo, cooperation with the World Council of Churches, the Women’s Network for Interreligious Dialogue and Youth in Dialogue forums.
At the same time, the Cardinal acknowledged challenges including religious fundamentalism, the political use of religion and restrictions on religious expression and freedom. He said dialogue can also be misunderstood as relativism in some pluralistic societies, while in other places it is affected by violence and restrictions on Christians.
On Christian Muslim relations, Cardinal Koovakad said that peaceful coexistence is possible and necessary. He recalled the importance of Nostra aetate, which expressed the Church’s esteem for Muslims and called for mutual understanding, social justice, moral values, peace and freedom.
He also highlighted the contribution of recent popes to this path. Pope Saint John Paul II promoted meetings between people of different religions, including the encounters in Assisi. Pope Benedict XVI stressed the continuing importance of Islamic Christian dialogue, while Pope Francis developed the idea of human fraternity, including through the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed in Abu Dhabi.
Cardinal Koovakad said the experience of recent decades has produced practical cooperation in education and social work, joint statements against violence and networks involving women and young people. However, he also noted continuing persecution of Christians by extremist groups, conflicts in the Middle East, religious prejudices and the political manipulation of religious identity.
He identified three conditions for peaceful Christian Muslim coexistence: clarity about one’s own religious identity, openness to the other and sincere intentions. He stressed that dialogue is neither relativism nor syncretism and should not be used for short term political or diplomatic purposes.
For Cardinal Koovakad, the strongest test of interreligious dialogue is how it responds to people who are suffering. Drawing on the message of A Journey of Hope and Pope Francis’ emphasis on the vulnerable, he said that the needs of the poor and vulnerable should serve as a guide for political, social, economic, academic, religious and cultural projects.
He pointed to practical examples at the local level, including cooperation between Christians and Muslims in supporting migrants, families in difficulty, children and elderly people. Shared soup kitchens, after school programmes and assistance for people without healthcare coverage were among the examples mentioned. In some conflict areas, Christian and Muslim communities have also worked to create protected spaces for vulnerable people.
The Cardinal also highlighted joint efforts against antisemitism, intolerance towards Muslims and discrimination against Christians and other religious communities. He said education in religious literacy and awareness of cultural and geopolitical realities can help prepare younger generations to work together in service of those in need.
Interreligious dialogue, he concluded, is ultimately tested through encounters with people who suffer. When dialogue leads communities to cooperate in protecting and serving the vulnerable, it becomes a lived expression of fraternity rather than simply an idea or a document.