Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations

St. John Paul II hailed as model for Catholics to fight rising scourge of antisemitism

March 12, 2025
By Simone Orendain
OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, World News

St. John Paul II’s example as a strong bridge-builder between Catholicism and Judaism should be used against enduring antisemitism, especially in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to a theologian who wrote a two-volume biography of one of the longest serving popes.

Christians, Muslims can proclaim beauty of diversity, Vatican says

March 7, 2025
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Vatican, World News

In a world where people are tempted to build walls to exclude others, Christians and Muslims are challenged to build, through dialogue, a shared future based on fraternity, leaders of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue said in a message to Muslims around the world.

Meet the Sister of Charity making sure Catholics ‘never forget’ the Holocaust

February 22, 2025
By Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller
Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, World News

The third floor of the administration building at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., houses the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education.

Pope: Nicene Creed unites Christians, overcoming division through faith

February 7, 2025
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Vatican, World News

The Nicene Creed is more than a statement of faith — it is a powerful sign of unity among Christians, Pope Francis said as he welcomed young priests and monks from Oriental Orthodox Churches to the Vatican.

‘God suffered a great deal in every single person’ who was in Auschwitz, cardinal says

January 28, 2025
By Paulina Guzik
OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Religious Freedom, World News

“God did not create Auschwitz, God created man,” said Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Lodz after the Jan. 27 commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazis’ biggest death camp: Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland.

Bishops across Europe remember Holocaust victims, urge world to fight rising antisemitism

January 27, 2025
By Jonathan Luxmoore
OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Religious Freedom, World News

Church leaders across Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp with calls to remember German Nazi-inflicted sufferings and to counter a new rise in antisemitism and extremism.

Holocaust cannot be forgotten or denied, pope says

January 27, 2025
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Vatican, World News

After reciting the Angelus prayer Jan. 26 with visitors in St. Peter’s Square, the pope drew their attention to the following day’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Episcopal bishop pushes Trump on immigration at inaugural interfaith prayer service

January 22, 2025
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington raised some concerns Jan. 21 over policies being advanced by the new Trump administration, asking President Donald Trump at an event where he was in attendance to show “mercy” to migrants and refugees coming to the U.S. for a better life.

Rome rabbi accuses pope of ‘selective indignation’ about Gaza

January 17, 2025
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Vatican, World News

The chief rabbi of Rome said Christian-Jewish dialogue has been a victim of the war unleashed with the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to focus on Creed

January 15, 2025
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

As Christian churches prepare to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will focus on affirming the Nicene Creed and its expression of the faith Christians share.

Pope, bishops, hundreds of faithful pray for victims of shocking Christmas market attack

December 23, 2024
By OSV News
OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, World News

Several hundred people gathered at Magdeburg Cathedral in the evening of Dec. 21 for an ecumenical prayer service to remember the victims of the Dec. 20 Christmas market attack in the central German city, which killed five, including a 9-year-old child, and injured over 40 people, leaving some in critical condition.

Catholics, Methodists called to spread hope, pope says

December 18, 2024
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Vatican, World News

The upcoming celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is a reminder to Christians that “we profess the same faith, and thus have the same responsibility of offering signs of hope that bear witness to God’s presence in the world,” Pope Francis told leaders of the World Methodist Council.