OPENING AND PLENARY SESSION OF THE “VII CONGRESS OF LEADERS OF WORLD AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS”
"Palace of Independence" (Nur-Sultan) - KAZAKHSTAN
[…] In addition to the challenges of the pandemic and of peace, let us now turn to
a third challenge, that of fraternal acceptance. Today we find it hard to accept the
human being. Each day children, born and unborn, migrants and elderly persons,
are cast aside, discarded. There exists a throwaway culture. Many of our brothers
and sisters die sacrificed on the altar of profit, amid clouds of the sacrilegious
incense of indifference. Yet every human being is sacred. “Homo sacra res homini”,
the ancients said (cf. SENECA, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, 95, 33). It is above all
our task, the task of the religions, to remind the world of this. Now, as never
before, we are witnessing massive displacements of peoples due to war, poverty,
climate change and the pursuit of a prosperity that our globalized world advertises,
yet is often difficult to attain. A great exodus is taking place, as people from the
most poverty-stricken areas of our world struggle to reach those that are more
prosperous. We see this every day, in different migration movements in our world.
This is not just another item on the daily news; it is an historic event demanding
concordant and farsighted solutions. To be sure, we instinctively defend our own
hard-won securities and close our doors out of fear; it is easier to suspect
strangers, to accuse them and condemn them, than it is to get to know and
understand them. Yet it is our duty to be mindful that the Creator, who watches
over each of his creatures, exhorts us to regard others as he does, and in them to
see the face of a brother or a sister. Our migrant brothers and sisters need to be
accepted, accompanied, promoted and integrated. […]
