By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The first session of the Vatican’s new initiative to encourage dialogue with non-believers took place on Friday at the Sorbonne in France and included a video-taped message from the Pope to youth in which he encouraged them to put God back into the public debate in order to seek more justice and solidarity in a cold utilitarian world.
Reuters is reporting that the first session of the Courtyard of the Gentiles program, named for that place in the ancient temple where people gathered who wished to learn more about Judaism, was attended mostly by eminent French thinkers. It concluded with a rally outside Notre Dame Cathedral for French youth – both believers and non-believers – who came to “discuss the great questions of human existence.”
In a video address from the Vatican, which was projected on a large screen in the square, the pope urged the youth to “tear down the barriers of fear of the other, the foreigner, of those who are not like you” that mutual ignorance can create.
“The question of God doesn’t endanger society, it doesn’t threaten human life!” he said. “The question of God must not be absent from the great questions of our time.”
He said religions had nothing to fear from secular society as long as it had “an open secularism that lets all live as they believe, in accordance with their conscience.”
The Pope called upon young people to “build bridges between you. You must seize the opportunity that has been given you to seek, in the depths of your consciences and through solid and well-reasoned reflection, the ways to a profound dialogue. You have so much to say to one another. Do not close your consciences before the challenges and problems facing you.”
He went on to say that the encounter between faith and reason enables man to discover himself, but reason is all too often warped by the pressure of interests and the lure of profit.
“Our primary attitude, the first action we must undertake together, is that of respecting, assisting and loving all human beings, because they are creatures of God and, in a certain way, embody the path that leads to Him. By continuing the experience you are having this evening you will help to break down the barriers of fear of the other, of foreigners, of those who are not like you; a fear that often arises from mutual ignorance, from scepticism or from indifference. Be sure to strengthen your bonds with all young people without distinction, not forgetting those who live in poverty and solitude, those who suffer through unemployment or sickness, or who feel they are on the margins of society.”
He then invited all into the Cathedral for a prayer service.
“For some of you this will be a prayer to a God you know through the faith, but for others it may be a prayer to an unknown God. Dear young non-believers, joining those who are praying inside Notre-Dame on this day of the Annunciation of the Lord, open your hearts to the Sacred Scriptures, allow yourselves to be drawn by the beauty of the music and, if you truly desire it, allow the feelings closed within you to rise towards the unknown God.”
The Courtyard of the Gentiles program is part of the Pope’s drive to reignite the faith in Europe where secularism has pushed the faith to the fringes of society. The same program featuring discussions with non-believers will take place in at least 16 European and North American cities over the next two years.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican culture minister in charge of the program, has stressed that meetings are meant to seek common ground on the major questions facing modern societies. To ensure that the talks do not become confrontational, militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will not be invited to participate.
Sessions are scheduled to take place in Italy, Albania, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Spain, Russia and the United States.
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