We need to talk

That was the message the Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN gave to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently. The executive council of that group was meeting to come up with a five year plan for promoting respect and dialogue among cultures. It’s always a good time for that, but these are particularly urgent times.

Msgr. Follo, who is the Holy See permanent observer to UNESCO, delivered an address entitled “inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue is a vital necessity,” a phrase pronounced by Benedict XVI on August 20, 2005, during a meeting with representatives of Muslim communities in Cologne, Germany. “Despite the fact that different cultures have different interpretations of reality,” said the permanent observer, “they share the fundamental experience of the human condition: … birth, death, work, sickness, social injustice, the environment, the protection of our planet.”

Ultimately, what unites us is greater than what divides us. 

“Cultural exchanges,” he went on, “also involve giving consideration to religions, … because religious experience is often engraved in the very heart of culture.” And “although religions have sometimes been the cause of violence in the history of humanity, … it is also important to highlight how much they have contributed and can still contribute to social cohesion, to reconciliation and to peace.”

“If we turn to look at history,” said Msgr. Follo, “we become aware of how much we owe to those who, in their way, favored communication between very different peoples.” These include such figures as “St. Augustine, who after fifteen centuries appears to us as a ‘bridge’ between cultures: between ancient Africa and Rome, between the Greek east and the Latin world, between antiquity and the Middle Ages, and even between antiquity and modernity.”

“Figures such as these,” concluded Msgr. Follo, “must encourage us to follow the path of cultural exchange. The mixing of peoples is right in an era of universalization. The future of humanity is at stake. Whatever differences there may be, all mankind forms a single family and this family has the vocation to live in unity and peace.”