March for Israel draws busloads to National Mall to protest antisemitism November 15, 2023By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, World News An estimated tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall Nov. 14 in a show of solidarity for Israel in the wake of the terrorist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on that country and a protest of antisemitism around the globe. Protesters also demanded the release of hostages abducted by Hamas.
Faith is a call to dialogue and peacemaking, pope tells rabbis November 6, 2023By Cindy Wooden OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Christians and Jews are called to bear witness to God’s word through dialogue and “to his peace with our actions,” Pope Francis said in a message to the Conference of European Rabbis.
Synodality benefits from and increases ecumenical ties, participants say October 27, 2023By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Synodality, Vatican, World News As the Catholic Church’s synod on synodality continues, it is drawing on lessons learned from decades of ecumenical friendships and dialogues and is sharing its experience with ecumenical partners with one goal in mind: helping all Christians take responsibility for the mission of sharing the Gospel, said several synod participants.
Silent no more: Vatican archives give voice to wartime tragedy October 22, 2023By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Catholic and Jewish scholars came together for the landmark gathering at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University Oct. 9-11 to discuss new research coming out of the recently opened Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII’s pontificate before, during and after World War II and the Holocaust.
Amid Israel-Hamas war, interfaith solidarity more important than ever, say experts October 18, 2023By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, World News The complex dynamics among three of the world’s major faith traditions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity — have been at once highlighted and strained by the war, which was sparked by Hamas’ militants Oct. 7 ambush on approximately 22 locations in Israel.
Ripple effect: Delegates discuss synod impact beyond Catholicism October 17, 2023By Justin McLellan OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, Synodality, Vatican, World News Seated among Catholics cardinals, bishops, priests, religious sisters and lay Catholic leaders, 12 representatives from other Christian communities are listening and weighing in on discussions about the future of the Catholic Church.
Study, not blame or shame, needed with pope’s wartime record, scholar says October 14, 2023By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News The era of divisive debate about Pope Pius XII has been left behind, and now Catholics and Jews, historians and theologians must take up serious and collaborative study, said the co-organizer of a major conference looking at the early results of new research into the wartime pontificate.
‘War traumatizes everybody’ and ‘deep-seated peace’ needed, says Jesuit priest working in Jerusalem October 12, 2023By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, World News Father John Paul, rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute spoke with OSV News Oct. 11, four days after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into approximately 22 locations in Israel, gunning down civilians and taking some 100-150 hostages, including infants, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Israeli top politicians, rabbis react after incidents of spitting on Christians causes uproar October 6, 2023By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, World News While recent incidents of spitting on Christians outraged the community in the Holy Land, Israeli officials openly condemned the attacks this time, with the foreign minister of the country personally calling the Vatican’s top diplomat.
Former Soviet political prisoners urge Jewish and Ukrainian unity amid WWII memorial row September 21, 2023By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, World News Former Soviet political prisoners have pointed to “a common enemy,” one intent on undermining the cause of Ukrainian-Jewish understanding they worked to achieve, in a recent controversy over a World War II memorial in a Ukrainian Catholic cemetery near Philadelphia.
Vatican, Lutheran officials call for joint study of Augsburg Confession September 20, 2023By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News During an ecumenical prayer service at the assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist and the federation’s general secretary formally called for a joint reflection on the Augsburg Confession, a fundamental statement of Lutheran faith.
Pope says Christian unity advances with prayer, study, joint work September 14, 2023By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Scholars from different Christian churches who have studied together the New Testament letters of St. Paul are engaging in “courageous and prophetic work,” Pope Francis told them.
