Assisi, Italy, Aug 11, 2016 / 05:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- If a prominent imam is right, Pope Francis will visit Assisi Sept. 19 for a major international interreligious meeting.
Mohamed Abdel Qader, the Imam of Perugia and Umbria – the Italian region that is home to Assisi – raised the possibility last week in an interview with the Italian Bishops Conference’s television TV2000.
Imam Qader was in Assisi when Pope Francis visited to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the “perdono” indulgence. This plenary indulgence, established in 1216 under Pope Honorius III, is given to everyone who goes to Assisi, goes to confession, receives Holy Communion and prays according the Pope’s intentions on the days of Aug. 1-2 each year.
The imam attended the Aug. 4 ceremony at the St. Mary of the Angels Basilica in Assisi. He exchanged a quick greeting with Pope Francis before he left.
The unscheduled meeting came only three days after Muslim leaders all over Europe made the decision to take part in Catholic Masses on Sunday, as a sign of solidarity with the Catholic Church. The move was a rejection of the barbaric murder of Fr. Jacques Hamel, the French priest killed by Islamist extremists at the end of Mass in a church in the area of Rouen, France.
Imam Qader told TV2000 that there will be a papal visit to Assisi for peace Sept. 19-20.
“I and many other representatives of the national and international Muslim community will go and greet the Pope,” the imam said.
At present, the Vatican has not officially confirmed papal participation in the meeting of Assisi.
The meeting falls on the 30th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace that St. John Paul II convoked in Assisi 1986.
St. John Paul II went back to Assisi for successive events 1993 and 2002. The last day of prayer led by a Pope was convoked by Benedict XVI in 2011, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first historic meeting in Assisi.
However, the Sant’Egidio community has organized an interreligious meeting every year since 1986, held at different locations.
This year, the event will once again take place in Assisi. Father Mauro Galimberti, custodian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi, said that the Franciscan friars will join the Sant’Egidio community and the diocese to “open wide the doors for a new meeting among the world leaders of religion.”
The event, the custodian said, will be “a choral prayer.”
“Together, we will ask ourselves: what are the principles acknowledged by all the religions for peaceful coexistence? What contribution to politics, science and culture in general can we propose to draft a decalogue of human coexistence?”
This interreligious dialogue effort is part of other efforts to advance a “culture of encounter” which the Pope has prized during his pontificate.
Other noteworthy events are also taking place in Catholic-Muslim dialogue. Relations have been re-established with Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque, one of the most important institutions of Sunni Islam.
Ahmed al-Tayab, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, had a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican May 23.
Pope Francis is also expected to visit the Mosque of Rome. The invitation was personally forwarded to Pope Francis by an Islamic delegation Jan. 20, in a short 10-minute meeting in a small hall of Paul VI Hall ahead of the Pope’s general audience.
Though the delegation said the Pope accepted the invitation, at present no date for the visit has been set.
Article Archive
Will Pope Francis visit Assisi again this year? This imam says yes.
Related Articles • More Articles
Students participating in the CEDE workshop for St. John's College High School gather for a group photo at the basilica at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in November 2022. / Credit: Photo courtesy of CUACNA Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).When Luke Burgis moved to Silicon Valley to start a business, he never expected he would become a seminarian and then go on to launch entrepreneurship programs for Catholic students. Burgis had attended NYU, worked on Wall Street, started several businesses in Silicon Valley, and moved to Las Vegas before deciding he wanted more meaning in his life. With the encouragement of a friend, he rekindled his Catholic faith. After five years in seminary, he ultimately discerned he would not become a priest, but he still found himself in need of deeper meaning in his work.So he founded Catholic Entrepreneurship and Design Experience (CEDE, pronounced "seed") in 2020 to help students across the country connect their w...
null / Credit: Peter Hermes Furian via ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on April 19 condemned the kidnapping and murder of a catechist in Burkina Faso, West Africa.In a news brief, ACN informed ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that catechist Edouard Yougbare was kidnapped on Thursday night by "terrorists, and his lifeless body was found near Zigni this morning."According to other local sources, along with Yougbare, who was a member of Saatenga parish in Fada Gourma, Burkina Faso, more people were kidnapped and murdered."We are heartbroken by the loss of Yougbare. He served his community faithfully and his death is a devastating blow for the people of Saatenga," lamented Spaniard María Lozano, press and public relations director of ACN International."Catechists in Burkina Faso are on the front lines, risking their lives for the good of their people. Just two months ago, ano...
Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on March 27, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Apr 19, 2024 / 10:07 am (CNA).In the latest move in Pope Francis' reform of the Vatican judiciary, the pope issued a new motu proprio on Friday on the retirement age and benefits for cardinal judges and magistrates in the Vatican's court system.The April 19 motu proprio states that Vatican magistrates will retire at the end of the judicial year in which they turn 75 and cardinal judges at the age of 80, unless Pope Francis asks them to remain in office beyond the age limit.Magistrates and judges who wish to resign from office before the retirement age can only do so with the approval of the pope.The pope also has the prerogative to dismiss magistrates unable to fulfill their duties at any time. Upon the termination of their duties, magistrates will retain the rights to assistance and welfare provided to Vatican citizens and employees.The motu proprio, wh...