THEODOROS II
BY THE GRACE OF GOD POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND ALL AFRICA TO THE FULNESS
OF OUR APOSTOLIC AND PATRIARCHAL THRONE
GRACE AND MERCY AND PEACE FROM OUR RISEN LORD
AND GOD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, Christ is risen!
The joyous announcement of the Resurrection of Our Lord finds the Middle East, the place where God as Creator communed with man, still struggling with great sacrifices to look for justice, the eye of God on Earth. It finds the Middle East, the place where the Son and Word of God was incarnated so that man can become Godlike, still looking for the path that leads towards social peace; a path on which mines are being laid by the tight interconnection of politics and religion with the prevalence of radical ideologies.
Nonetheless also in sub-Saharan Africa, where Christianity is growing rapidly, the joyous announcement of the Resurrection of Our Lord does not reach the souls of all people peacefully, since violent incidents call into question the right of free religious expression. In sub-Saharan Africa, which has become the home of one quarter of the world’s Christians, incidents are taking place that call into question the right of every human to freely determine and give meaning to his life starting with his reference to God.
The recent incidents of religious violence in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, shock and trouble me. I am troubled by the fact that religious fundamentalism threatens to erode the wealth of religious tradition. I am troubled by the fact that faith can be transformed into aggressive fanaticism. I am troubled by the fact that violence and fear poison coexistence.
It is truly distressing, now that those who foresaw the end of religions have failed dismally, to waste the reservoirs of religions in order to irrigate the field of conflicts; to waste the reservoirs of religions which, in these times of crisis of values we are experiencing, look out for the protection of the spiritual and cultural heritage of humanity; to waste the reservoirs of religions which lie at the core of human existence.
It is time for everyone to realize that a multicultural society essentially means a multi-religious society. In this society, peace is not possible without peace between religions. And peace between religions cannot exist without dialogue between religions.
The springing board of such a dialogue should be the promotion of those elements that unite the religions, rather than of those that divide them. The springing board of such a dialogue should be the promotion of the common values of the various religions, rather than of those perceptions about religious superiority that undermine the tolerance of diversity.
The aim of such a dialogue should be the enhancement of the unifying and peacemaking role of religions. The aim of such a dialogue should be the consensus between religions on a minimum common morality, without confessional concessions.
If some fearfully argue that the interreligious dialogue will discolor the distinctiveness of each religious expression, they are mistaken. They fail to realize that man and religious faith indissolubly coexist since the beginning of the world. They fail to realize that religious faith has never been deleted from the existential identity of individuals and peoples, despite the fact that many, from time to time, have tried to do so. They fail to realize what I daily ascertain in guiding Africa, this mosaic of peoples and religions: that faith in God is the only constant in a world dangerously adrift.
If some think that real peace of religions, as an essential factor for world peace, is an illusion, they have only to consider that they doubt the almighty will of God to reveal the human race in its genuine dimensions, to place the human race on its authentic pedestal; the almighty will of God which was factually certified by the Incarnation and Resurrection of the Son and Word of God so that the human race be redeemed from spiritual death.
† THEODOROS II
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa
In the Great City of Alexandria
Holy Easter 2012
