The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together is a joint statement signed by Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, supporting human compassion and solidarity. The document was born of a fraternal open discussion between Francis and Tayeb and is concerned with how different faiths can live peacefully in the same world, and it is meant to be a guide on advancing a "culture of mutual respect".
The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity has been established instituted to fulfill the aspirations of the Document on Human Fraternity internationally. [1] The principles of compassion and human solidarity embodied in this text are the same ones that later inspired the declaration designating February 4 as the International Day of Human Fraternity, as indicated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. [2] [3]
In his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti , Pope Francis stated that the Document on Human Fraternity "was no mere diplomatic gesture, but a reflection born of dialogue and common commitment". [4]
In February 2019, the Muslim Council of Elders hosted the Human Fraternity Meeting in the UAE with hopes of enhancing co-existence of humans globally. [5] Pope Francis traveled to the United Arab Emirates from February 3-5, 2019 and met with Islamic leaders. On 4 February 2019, at the Founder's Memorial in Abu Dhabi, the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together was co-signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb. [6]
The Document is concerned with how different faiths can live peaceably in the same world and areas. In the declaration: [7]
The Document suggests one chain of causality for religious and national extremism: "a moral deterioration" in international action and "a weakening of spiritual values" causing "frustration, isolation and desperation", leading some to fall "into a vortex of […] extremism", leading some to "individual or collective self-destruction". [7]
The United Nations General Assembly unanimously decided that on 4 February, starting in 2021, it be observed as International Day of Human Fraternity. It was the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity which inspired this date to be observed as such. [8]
Some commentary on the Document focuses on alleged "novel theological formulations ... and questionable assertions of facts", [a] particularly in a passage concerning God's will with regard to the diversity of religions: [7]
Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept.
Chad Pecknold, a systematic theologian at the Catholic University of America, [11] [12] assesses this claim as "fitting [...] [i]n sensitive inter-religious contexts, [...] but some may find it puzzling to hear the Vicar of Christ talk about God willing the diversity of religions". However, Pecknold clarifies that "in the context of the document, the Holy Father is clearly referring not to the evil of many false religions, but positively refers to the diversity of religions only in the sense that they are evidence of our natural desire to know God." [13] Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, claims that Pope Francis also clarified to him that he was referring to "the permissive will of God". [14]
Nevertheless, on 10 June 2019, Cardinals Raymond Leo Burke and Jānis Pujats, Archbishops Tomasz Peta and Jan Paweł Lenga and Bishop Schneider published a 40-point "Declaration of Truths", stating that "the religion born of faith in Jesus Christ" is the "only religion positively willed by God". [15]
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