University students in dialogue

On the 15th of October, the Dicastery welcomed a group of approximately 30university students, accompanied by their faculty advisors.

The students represented a number of different universities: – Georgetown University, LaSalle University, Loyola University Chicago, Loyola University New Orleans, Santa Clara University, Villanova University, the University of Dayton. The visit to Rome is part of a program offered to students of Catholic institutions of higher education across the U.S. called CENTERS (Catholic Education Network To Experience Rome and Synodality) to facilitate an immersive experience in synodality. A Muslim and a Hindu student added an interreligious dimension to the experience.

This aspect was further explored during the visit to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. The students were keen to exchange views on a number of interesting topics, including religious pluralism and its theological implications, strategies for addressing religious conflicts and promoting reconciliation, ethical values shared across different religions, attitudes, steps and effective methods for engaging in respectful, meaningful and productive interfaith dialogue, and how to promote interfaith understanding and cooperation at the community level. Students were very engaged in the conversation, showing great attention. At the end of the session, one of the students invited everyone to contribute to the ‘Interfaith Tapestry of Peace’, a textile made of yarn and recycled materials, the work of many hands and of people from different faith traditions, that symbolises being “woven” together as a human family.