Grand imam, Pope inaugurate faith pavilion at UN climate conference
December 04, 2023
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CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar took part virtually in the inauguration in Dubai of the first faith pavilion at a United Nations climate conference.
Pope Francis sent a video message to the December 3 event in Dubai. In addition, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, delivered the address the Pope had been scheduled to give before the cancellation of his trip because of a bronchial ailment.
“It is important that religions, without falling into the trap of syncretism, set a good example by working together: not for their own interests or those of one party, but for the interests of our world,” the Pope said in his video message. “Among these, the most important nowadays are peace and the climate.”
The faith pavilion “shows that all authentic religious beliefs are a source of encounter and action,” the Pope wrote in his address. “Brothers and sisters, may the Most High bless our hearts, so that we may be, together, builders of peace and guardians of creation.”
Nearly five years earlier, in February 2019, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar signed the Document on Human Fraternity in Dubai during the Pope’s apostolic journey there. Some Sunni Muslims regard the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (located in Cairo) as the highest Muslim authority.
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