OPENING AND PLENARY SESSION OF "VII CONGRESS OF LEADERS OF WORLD AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS" SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER "Palace of Independence" (Nur-Sultan) Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Brothers and sisters! Allow me to address you with these direct and familiar words: brothers and sisters. Thus I wish to greet you, religious leaders and authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and international organizations, representatives of academic and cultural institutions, civil society and various non-governmental organizations, in the name of that brotherhood which unites us all, as sons and daughters. of Heaven itself.

Faced with the mystery of the infinite that dominates and attracts us, religions remind us that we are creatures: we are not omnipotent, but women and men on the way to the same celestial goal. The creaturality we share thus establishes a community, a real fraternity. It reminds us that the meaning of life cannot be reduced to our personal interests, but is inscribed in the brotherhood that distinguishes us. We grow only with others and thanks to others. Dear Leaders and Representatives of world and traditional religions, we are in a land traveled over the centuries by great caravans: in these places, even through the ancient silk road, many stories, ideas, faiths and hopes have intertwined. May Kazakhstan once again be a meeting place for those who are distant. May it open a new way of meeting, centered on human relationships: on respect, on the honesty of dialogue, on the essential value of each one, on collaboration; a fraternal way to walk together towards peace.

Yesterday I borrowed the image of the dombra; today I would like to associate a voice with the musical instrument, that of the country's most famous poet, father of his modern literature, the educator and composer often depicted together with the dombra. Abai (1845-1904), as he is popularly called, has left us writings steeped in religiosity, in which the best soul of this people shines through: a harmonious wisdom, which desires peace and research by questioning itself with humility, yearning for a worthy wisdom of man, never closed in narrow and narrow visions, but willing to be inspired by multiple experiences. Abai provokes us with a timeless question: "What is the beauty of life, if you don't go deep?" (Poetry, 1898). Another poet asked himself the meaning of existence, putting an equally essential question on the lips of a shepherd of these boundless lands of Asia: "Where does my short wanderings tend?" (G. Leopardi, Nocturnal song of a wandering shepherd from Asia). It is questions like these that arouse the need for religion, to remind us that we human beings do not exist so much to satisfy earthly interests and to weave relationships of an economic nature only, as to walk together, as travelers with their gaze turned to Heaven. We need to make sense of the ultimate questions, to cultivate spirituality; we need, said Abai, to keep "the soul awake and the mind clear" (Word 6).

Brothers and sisters, the world awaits from us the example of awake souls and clear minds, it awaits authentic religiosity. The time has come to wake up from that fundamentalism that pollutes and corrodes every belief, the time to make the heart clear and compassionate. But it is also time to leave only to the history books the discourses that for too long, here and elsewhere, have instilled suspicion and contempt for religion, as if it were a destabilizing factor in modern society. In these places the legacy of state atheism, imposed for decades, is well known, that oppressive and suffocating mentality for which the mere use of the word "religion" created embarrassment. In reality, religions are not problems, but part of the solution for a more harmonious coexistence. The search for transcendence and the sacred value of fraternity can in fact inspire and illuminate the choices to be made in the context of the geopolitical, social, economic, ecological but, at the root, spiritual crises that run through many today's institutions, including democracies, jeopardizing the security and harmony among peoples. We therefore need religion to respond to the world's thirst for peace and the thirst for the infinite that inhabits the heart of every man.

For this reason, an essential condition for truly human and integral development is religious freedom. Brothers, sisters, we are free creatures. Our Creator has "stood aside for us", he has, so to speak, "limited" his absolute freedom to make us free creatures too. How then can we coerce brothers in his name? "While we believe and worship - Abai taught -, we must not say that we can force others to believe and worship" (Word 45). Religious freedom is a fundamental, primary and inalienable right, which must be promoted everywhere and which cannot be limited to freedom of worship alone. It is in fact the right of every person to give public testimony to their creed: to propose it without ever imposing it. It is the good practice of proclamation, different from proselytism and indoctrination, from which everyone is called to keep away. Relegating the most important creed of life to the private sphere would deprive society of immense wealth; on the contrary, favoring contexts where there is a respectful coexistence of religious, ethnic and cultural diversities is the best way to enhance the specific traits of each one, to unite human beings without making them uniform, to promote their highest aspirations without cutting off their momentum.

Here then, alongside the immortal value of religion, is the current one, which Kazakhstan admirably promotes, hosting this world-class Congress for twenty years. This edition leads us to reflect on our role in the spiritual and social development of humanity during the post-pandemic period.

The pandemic, between vulnerability and cure, represents the first of four global challenges that I would like to outline and that call everyone - but especially religions - to greater unity of purpose. Covid-19 has put us all on an equal footing. He made us understand that, as Abai said, "we are not demiurges, but mortals" (ibid.): We all felt fragile, all in need of assistance; none fully autonomous, none completely self-sufficient. Now, however, we cannot squander the need for solidarity that we felt going forward as if nothing had happened, without letting ourselves be challenged by the need to tackle the urgencies that concern everyone together. Religions must not be indifferent to this: they are called to be at the forefront, to be promoters of unity in the face of trials that risk dividing the human family even more.

Specifically, it is up to us, who believe in the Divine, to help the brothers and sisters of our age not to forget the vulnerability that characterizes us: not to fall into false presumptions of omnipotence aroused by technical and economic progress, which alone is not enough. ; not to be harnessed in the snares of profit and gain, as if they were the remedies for all ills; not to favor an unsustainable development that does not respect the limits imposed by creation; not to allow oneself to be anesthetized by consumerism that stuns, because goods are for man and not man for goods. In short, our common vulnerability, which emerged during the pandemic, should encourage us not to go on as before, but with more humility and foresight.

In addition to raising awareness of our fragility and responsibility, believers in the post-pandemic are called to care: to take care of humanity in all its dimensions, becoming artisans of communion - I repeat the word: artisans of communion -, witnesses of a collaboration that overcomes the barriers of one's community, ethnic, national and religious affiliations. But how to undertake such an arduous mission? Where to start? By listening to the weakest, by giving a voice to the most fragile, by echoing a global solidarity that first of all concerns them, the poor, the needy who have suffered most from the pandemic, which has forcefully brought out the iniquity of planetary inequalities. How many, still today, do not have easy access to vaccines, how many! We are on their side, not on the side of those who have more and give less; let us become prophetic and courageous consciences, let us be close to everyone but especially to the too many forgotten people of today, to the marginalized, to the weakest and poorest sections of society, to those who suffer in secret and in silence, far from the spotlight. What I propose to you is not just a way to be more sensitive and supportive, but a path of healing for our societies. Yes, because it is precisely poverty that allows the spread of epidemics and other great evils that thrive on the lands of hardship and inequality. The greatest risk factor of our times remains poverty. In this regard, Abai wisely asked himself: "Can those who are hungry keep a clear mind [...] and show diligence in learning? Poverty and quarrels […] generate […] violence and greed "(Word 25). As long as inequalities and injustices continue to rage, viruses worse than Covid will not cease: those of hatred, violence, terrorism.

And this brings us to the second planetary challenge that challenges believers in a particular way: the challenge of peace. In recent decades, the dialogue between the leaders of religions has mainly concerned this issue. Yet, we see our days still marked by the scourge of war, by a climate of exasperated confrontation, by the inability to take a step back and reach out to the other. A start is needed and it is necessary, brothers and sisters, that it comes to us. If the Creator, to whom we dedicate our existence, gave rise to human life, how can we, who profess ourselves believers, consent to its destruction? And how can we think that the people of our time, many of whom live as if God did not exist, are motivated to engage in a respectful and responsible dialogue if the great religions, which constitute the soul of so many cultures and traditions, do not commit themselves actively for peace?

Mindful of the horrors and errors of the past, let us join forces so that the Almighty never again becomes hostage to the will of human power. Abai recalls that "he who permits evil and does not oppose evil cannot be considered a true believer but, at best, a lukewarm believer" (cf. Word 38). Brothers and sisters, a purification from evil is necessary for each and every one. The great Kazakh poet insisted on this aspect, writing that those who "abandon learning deprive themselves of a blessing" and "those who are not strict with themselves and are not capable of compassion cannot be considered a believer" (Word 12). Brothers and sisters, let us purify ourselves, therefore, from the presumption of feeling righteous and having nothing to learn from others; let us free ourselves from those reductive and ruinous conceptions that offend the name of God through rigidity, extremism and fundamentalism, and profane it through hatred, fanaticism and terrorism, also disfiguring the image of man. Yes, because "the source of humanity - recalls Abai - is love and justice, [...] they are the crowns of divine creation" (Word 45). We never condone violence. We do not allow the sacred to be exploited by the profane. May the sacred not be the prop of power and power should not be props of sacredness!

God is peace and always leads to peace, never to war. Let us therefore commit ourselves even more to promoting and strengthening the need for conflicts to be resolved not with inconclusive reasons of force, with weapons and threats, but with the only means blessed by Heaven and worthy of man: the encounter. , dialogue, patient negotiations, which are carried out thinking in particular of children and the younger generations. They embody the hope that peace is not the fragile result of frantic negotiations, but the fruit of a constant educational commitment, which promotes their dreams of development and the future. Abai, in this sense, encouraged to expand knowledge, to cross the boundaries of one's own culture, to embrace the knowledge, history and literature of others. Let's invest, please, in this: not in armaments, but in education!

After those of the pandemic and peace, we take up a third challenge, that of fraternal welcome. Today the effort of accepting the human being is great. Every day, babies and children, migrants and the elderly are discarded. There is a throwaway culture. Many brothers and sisters die sacrificed on the altar of profit, wrapped in the sacrilegious incense of indifference. Yet every human being is sacred. "Homo sacra res homini", the ancients said (Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, 95,33): it is above all our task, of religions, to remind the world! Never before have we witnessed large displacements of populations, caused by wars, poverty, climate change, by the search for a well-being that the globalized world allows us to know, but which is often difficult to access. A great exodus is underway: from the most disadvantaged areas we try to reach the more affluent ones. We see it every day, in the various migrations around the world. It is not a news item, it is a historical fact that requires shared and far-sighted solutions. Of course, it is instinctive to defend one's acquired certainties and close the doors out of fear; it is easier to suspect the foreigner, accuse and condemn him than to know and understand him. But it is our duty to remember that the Creator, who watches over the steps of every creature, exhorts us to have a look similar to his, a look that recognizes the face of the brother. The migrant brother must be received, accompanied, promoted and integrated.

The Kazakh language invites us to this welcoming gaze: in it "to love" literally means "to have a good gaze on someone". But also the traditional culture of these regions affirms the same thing through a beautiful popular proverb: "If you meet someone, try to make them happy, maybe this is the last time you see them". If the cult of steppe hospitality recalls the irrepressible value of every human being, Abai sanctions it by saying that "man must be a friend of man" and that this friendship is based on universal sharing, because the important realities of life and after life are common. And therefore, he declares, "all people are guests of each other" and "man himself is a guest in this life" (Word 34). We rediscover the art of hospitality, of welcome, of compassion. And we also learn to be ashamed: yes, to feel that healthy shame that comes from pity for the man who suffers, from emotion and amazement for his condition, for his destiny in which to feel part of. It is the path of compassion, which makes you more human and more believers. It is up to us, in addition to affirming the inviolable dignity of every man, to teach us to cry for others, because only if we perceive the labors of humanity as our own will we be truly human.

A final global challenge challenges us: the custody of our common home. In the face of climatic upheavals, it must be protected, so that it is not subject to the logic of gain, but preserved for future generations, to the praise of the Creator. Abai wrote: «What a wonderful world the Creator has given us! He has given us his light with magnanimity and generosity. When the mother-earth nourished us in her bosom, our heavenly Father inclined himself with care ”(from the poem“ Spring ”). With loving care the Most High has arranged a common home for life: and we, who profess to be his, how can we allow it to be polluted, mistreated and destroyed? We also join efforts in this challenge. It is not the last in importance. In fact, it is linked to the first, to the pandemic one. Viruses such as Covid-19, which, although microscopic, are capable of destroying the great ambitions of progress, are often linked to a deteriorated balance, largely due to us, with the nature that surrounds us. Think for example of deforestation, the illegal trade in live animals, intensive farming… It is the mentality of exploitation that devastates the house we live in. Not only that: it leads to eclipsing that respectful and religious vision of the world desired by the Creator. Therefore it is essential to favor and promote the custody of life in all its forms.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us go forward together, so that the path of religions may be ever more friendly. Abai said that "a false friend is like a shadow: when the sun shines on you, you will not get rid of him, but when the clouds gather over you, he will not be seen anywhere" (Word 37). This does not happen to us: the Most High frees us from the shadows of suspicion and falsehood; may he grant us to cultivate sunny and fraternal friendships, through frequent dialogue and the luminous sincerity of intentions. And I would like to thank here for Kazakhstan's effort on this point: always try to unite, always try to provoke dialogue, always try to make friends. This is an example that Kazakhstan gives to all of us and we must follow it, support it. We do not look for fake conciliatory syncretisms - they are of no use - but we keep our identities open to the courage of otherness, to fraternal encounter. Only in this way, on this path, in the dark times we live in, will we be able to radiate the light of our Creator. Thank you all!

FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION FROM ORIGINAL ARTICLE VATICANO: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220914-kazakhstan-congresso.html

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