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PAGE 16
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER
2 ,
1986
is a
LOS
ANGELES TIMES report (November
20)
from the first stop on his
tour, Dhaka, Bangladesh:
for reli ious
Pope John Paul I1 leaded Wednesday
-
reconciliation
&
the nami of peace and human survival
koman Catholic p o x i f r b e T i n n i n g
a l l -day
Indian Ocean-
Pacific pilgrimage...made his pleas to Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim
and Protestant religious leaders at a colorful sunset ceremony
on the grounds of Dhaka's Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary.
- 7 + z
John
Paul noted that one
of his
chief reasons for taking
so
many arduous papal trips abroad is to 'carry forth the
church's commitment to sincere and loyal dialogue with other
reli ious traditions concernin
the
common s i r i t u a l x
human
&which
we ail+
X e n T a d e T h G
c o n v i c t T b n x a z m e t h i n g must urgently be done to
secure the peace and development that are the conditions for a
better future for the whole human race. We are painfully
aware that
man's
God-given dignity, and even survival itself,
are gravely threatened..
The Pope added that tensions between East and West, North and
South, 'as well as the many forms of violence,. injustice and
inequality, are a present and growing threat to human rights
and human dignity.' The answer,, he said, .is my constant
prayer that the harmon of mind demonstrated by the recent
[interfaith] meet ng o
d--
prayer at Assisi [Italyl...will grow
from day to day until all individuals and all peoples are
reconciled in love.
a
-
As
noted above, the Pope drew attention to the "interfaith day' he
initiated and held on October
27
in Assisi, Italy (two days after the
Last Great Day) in which religious leaders
of
many faiths fasted (it's
not clear if this was total abstinence from food and drink) and prayed
both separately and as a group for a nine-hour period. Leaders
representing Bahais, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Jains, Moslems,
Shintoists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, American Indians and animists from
Africa all participated
in
the service, intended to focus on, said the
Pope,
'the dramatic challenge
of
our age: true peace
or
catastrophic
war.'
In Dhaka, Vatican officials. accordina to the November
20
NEW
YORK
TIMES,
said that John Paul I1 wasvaincreasinqly reoccu ied with the idea that
the world's~liqionsmustmake
--
5
common e
pT-9T
ort
-
to o r e s t a l r a p x y p t i c
Bangers.a
Increasingly, John Paul is being seen by other Christian bodies, and
leaders of a number of other faiths as well, as the ecumenical spokesman
of the religious world. This concept factors into the' type
of
church
unity that might develop in the future. Notice this article
in
the
November
14
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE:
The ruling body of the Church of England took a further step
Thursday toward reunification with the Roman Catholic Church
by overwhelmingly approving a motion that envisa es some
kind
-
of papal authority
- -
in a reunited church. T d a 1 - m