Pope Francis to meet with leaders of other religions at UST

Pope Francis will be meeting ten leaders from other religions during his visit at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, officials said Monday.

 

According to Rev. Fr. Carlos Reyes, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines, the ten religious leaders will have an audience with the Pope that will last about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

The encounter will be held at the sidelines of the Pope's meeting with some 24,000 Filipino youth representatives.

 

UST Public Affairs director Giovanna Fontanilla said it will happen "somewhere around" the Arch of the Centuries, the university's ceremonial passage point.

 

Reyes said there is "no program" for the interaction, and no details have been given as to what the Pope and other religious leaders will be talking about.

 

He added, however, that "the Pope himself desired to meet with the religious leaders."

 

The religious leaders that the Pope will meet are:

* His Eminence Nektarios Tsilis (Orthodox Church)

* Venerable Master Hsing Yun (Buddhism)

* Rabbi Eliyahu Azariah (Judaism)

* His Eminence Ephraim S. Fajutagana (Christian)

* Bishop Cesar Vicente Punzalan III (Evangelical Church)

* Dean Julkipli M. Wadi (Islam), and 

* Imam Ebra Moxsir (Islam).

 

Also included are former UST Graduate School dean and interreligious dialogue advocate Lilian Sison (Catholic), as well as former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will represent the Philippine Bible Society.

 

At an earlier press briefing,  Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle noted the Pope's initiative to meet with leaders of other religions.

 

He shared: "'Yung kaniyang huling misa sa Seoul (Korea), an hour before the mass, they gathered the leaders of non-Christian religions. Kaya instead of visiting a mosque or Buddhist temple or what, doon na sa sacristine [na-gather] 'yung mga leaders and he spent 15 minutes with them. Nagkaroon ng inter-religious dialogue."

Among the Pope's efforts for interreligious dialogue was the gathering of leaders of various religions in Vatican last December 2, where they collectively called for "eliminating modern slavery."

The ceremony, held in the seat of the Pontifical Academy for Science in Vatican's Casina Pio IV, was marked by the signing of the Declaration of Religious Leaders against Slavery. —NB