WelCom June/July 2024
Pope Francis has reiterated the importance of a closer collaboration between the Church and Buddhists to address the pressing challenges facing the world today.
Welcoming a delegation last month, of some 100 Buddhist monks from the Wat Phra Cetuphon temple of Bangkok, in Thailand, he expressed his deep gratitude and appreciation for their ‘enduring friendship’ and willingness to work together ‘to bring a ray of hope to our wounded humanity’.
In his address to the monks, Pope Francis recalled the Seventh Buddhist-Christian Colloquium held in Bangkok in November, which brought together more than 150 participants from various parts of Asia.
He referred in particular to the final statement of the colloquium in which the participants, ‘deeply rooted in their respective religious traditions,’ committed ‘to working together with everyone’ to ‘bring a ray of hope to a desperate humanity’ in the midst of ‘dark clouds’ overshadowing the world today.
The Pope urged the monks to continue working together with everyone – civil society, members of other religions, governments, international organisations, academic and scientific communities and all other stakeholders – ‘to promote a friendship that sustains peace and fraternity and builds a more inclusive world’.
Source: Vatican News