EUROPE/ITALY - Covid-19: invocation of representatives of religious denominations and Abrahamic churches, in the sign of fraternity

Florence (Agenzia Fides) - A choral invocation for those affected by Covid-19, for those who still suffer - in Italy and in the world - due to the pandemic and its social and economic consequences, for solidarity and social justice, was raised yesterday afternoon from the cloister of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. This is what was espressed by Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community, Gad Fernando Piperno, Imam Izzedin Elzir, Pastor of the Waldensian Church, Letizia Tomassone, and the dean of the Orthodox Communities of Tuscany, Ioan Trandafir, Father Paolo Bocci, Rector of the Basilica, and Don Alessandro Andreini, vice-president of the Opera di Santa Croce.
The prayer was opened by reading the messages of support from Cardinals Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence, and Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and that of the Prince of Jordan El Hassan Bin Talal, President of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, always committed to dialogue among religions.
"Praying like this, gathered in this place full of beauty and history, is a strong gesture", wrote Cardinal Ayuso Guixot, who is also President of the High Committee for Human Fraternity which just a month ago, on May 14, promoted the global invocation to which yesterday's prayer moment was linked. "Not only do you recognize yourselves, but you try to recognize yourselves in a moment that is, yes, of otherness, but also of friendship and deep respect - wrote Ayuso Guixot -. Recognizing the other, brother or sister, when he turns to the Most High, listening to him, appreciating him, is a sign of commonality and sharing".
"Our city has always cultivated fraternity - wrote Cardinal Betori -. Today you are here to renew, in a certain sense, that spirit of fraternity, without forgetting the many people who are suffering serious economic and social consequences with the loss of work, poverty and abandonment". Prince El Hassan Bin Talal stressed: "The dramatic effects of the pandemic must not simply be forgotten with the return to the previous normalcy, so that those who have been affected, the most vulnerable, end up being relegated to the inhuman archives of history. Has the time not come for our world to adopt - in the words of the II Vatican - a "sacrament of unity" for the entire human family? Or - in the words of the Council and of al-Azhar - "a sacrament of unity" for "human fraternity?" (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 15/6/2020)

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