In Vatican Insider
A mayor risk for the upcoming Assisi gathering in late October, as shown in the current heated and raging debate, is for the event to be manipulated by a number of the media and then presented in a way poles apart from the Pope’s very intentions.
In a communiqué by the Holy See press office dated 2 April 2011 and in subsequent please, the Holy Father asked for the faithful to support him, both spiritually and with their presence there, in this ideal pilgrimage in the city of Saint Francis.
During a relevant symposium in Rome on October 1st, 2011, don Mauro Gagliardi, a young theologian and professor attached to the Pontifical university “Regina Apostolorum” who is also consultor in the Vatican for the office of the Papal liturgical celebrations and the Congregation for Divine Worship and Disciplines of Sacrament, decided to heed the Pope’s call in the most concrete and practical way: a manifesto setting the record straight with regard to the true interpretation key of the Assisi initiative in full compliance with the will of the Holy Father. A manifesto that should obviously be circulated/printed/posted as widely as possible in any for of media around the world.
“Holy Father, in obedience to your request, we are preparing ourselves in prayer for the forthcoming World Day of Prayer for Peace, due to be celebrated twenty-five years after its first edition, which was promoted by Your predecessor, Blessed John Paul II.
We are prepare ourselves to this day with a spirit of faith, in the double relevance of this virtue: with personal faith in the Lord, who guides His Church through the work of her legitimate pastors, and with faith in the truth that God revealed in Christ for our salvation. It’s in the light of this faith that we value the Assisi Day and accompany you in your pilgrimage of peace.
We are also preparing in a spirit of charity, that is with true love towards those religious men who will gather in Assisi under Your presidency. Following the teachings of Blessed John Paul II, let us reach out with charity to them, proclaiming with love and frankness our firm conviction of faith that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world and that true peace is only in Him.
Together with you, Holy Father, we are meeting our non Christian brothers to confirm their sound aspirations and their legitimate desire for peace, which they manifest through the prayers proper of their own religions. If this prayer is not and cannot be ours, if it is not therefore possible to pray together; and if we Christians, in the light of the word of truth of the Gospel, identify errors and gaps in their religions, nevertheless we appreciate the sincere search of God and the human prayer, beseeching for the Almighty to give the world justice and peace.
Thus avoiding any hint of syncretism or relativist interpretation, as if the Day of Assisi should involve a surrender of Christianity in so far as its profession of absoluteness and truth is concerned, we support your efforts, Holy Father, for every single human being to be brought closer to the mystery of Christ the Lord. Together with you, Your Holiness, we repeat and announce that there is no other name given among men by which they can find salvation except in the Name of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, yesterday, today and forever”.
