Dear Friends,
The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue is pleased to offer its warmest greetings and best wishes to you, as you celebrate Deepavali on 21st October this year. May this festival of lights brighten your lives and bring happiness, unity and peace to your families and communities!
The eighth day after Deepavali this year will mark the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate (28 October 1965), the Catholic Church’s landmark document that encouraged Catholics around the world to engage in dialogue and collaboration with people of other religious traditions. It urged all to “recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values” found among them (NA 2) in the service of promoting peace.
Pope Leo XIV has called upon all people to “build bridges through dialogue and encounter, joining together as one people” (Urbi et Orbi, 8 May 2025). He reminds us that fostering a culture of dialogue and collaboration for peace is “a task entrusted to all, believers and non-believers alike, who must advance it through reflection and a praxis inspired by the dignity of the person and the common good” (Address to the Movements and Associations of the “Arena of Peace” Verona, 30 May 2025). Only by working together can we secure and sustain a peace founded on truth, justice, love and freedom (cf. John Paul II, Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2003).
The family, as the primary place of education in life and faith, has a preeminent role in nurturing these values. Religious traditions also have a crucial responsibility in fostering peace, with religious leaders bearing the moral duty to lead by example – encouraging their followers to respect diversity and to build bridges of friendship and fraternity. Educational institutions and the media likewise play essential roles in shaping hearts and minds toward peaceful coexistence. In this way, interreligious dialogue and collaboration can and must be embraced as indispensable tools for cultivating a culture of peace; they should grow into a powerful, dynamic movement dedicated to building and always defending peace.
As believers rooted in our respective faith traditions, and as people united by shared values and a common concern for peace, may we – Hindus and Christians, together with those of other religions and all people of goodwill – join hands in both small and great ways to nurture peace in our homes, communities and societies. May we strive to build world peace by fostering “a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard” (Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, 4 February 2019).
We wish you all a Happy Deepavali!
Pescila Magdalin.
Columban Interreligious Dialogue Coordinator (IRD)
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