“Peace is urgent because any military conflict or hotbed of tension and confrontation today can only have a harmful domino effect and seriously compromises the system of international relations”, declared the Argentine pope at the end of the 7th Congress of world and traditional religions in the capital Nur-Sultan.
The participants of this tri-annual summit, representing various denominations (Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc.) divided into around a hundred delegations from 50 countries, adopted by majority a declaration calling on world leaders to “abandon all aggressive rhetoric and destructive force that leads to the destabilization of the world”.
“We are convinced that the outbreak of any military conflict, creating hotbeds of tension and confrontation, causes chain reactions that alter international relations”, indicates this 35-point document, where Ukraine is never mentioned. .
This declaration – signed in particular by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest institution of Sunni Islam – also says “to support the protection of the dignity and rights of women, the improvement of their social status as members equals of the family and of society”.
Of the approximately 80 religious representatives seated around a huge round table at the Nur-Sultan Independence Palace, only half a dozen women attended.
The pope himself called for “protecting the dignity” of women, believing that they “must be entrusted with greater roles and responsibilities”.
“How many choices of death would be avoided if women were at the center of decisions! Let’s work so that they are more respected, recognized and involved”, he added.
Since his election in 2013, Francis has worked to increase the number of women in positions of responsibility within the Curia, the “government” of the Vatican, but none has so far been awarded the head of a dicastery, the equivalent of a ministry.
On Thursday morning, the pontiff visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Nur-Sultan, where he delivered a speech before the local clergy, who warmly applauded him.
He will leave Thursday afternoon for Rome, where he will arrive around 8:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. GMT). On the return flight, he will hold his traditional press conference on the papal plane.
