Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations

In a message to religious and political leaders gathered at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Pope Francis pleaded with ordinary citizens and governing officials to have the “audacity of peace.”

Catholic and Jewish institutions announced Sept. 7 the discovery of a previously unpublished list of several thousand people, mostly Jews, who were hidden in Catholic convents and monasteries in Rome during the Nazi occupation of the city.

Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.

Any book that is considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for the human person who holds it sacred, Pope Francis said.