Love for The Earth,
Love for Humanity

The bright light of the rising sun represents the luminosity, the beauty inherent in each human being and our capacity to transform evil into good and to establish authentic human relationships. The closeness of the celebration of Christmas envisions the coming of the Light and Peace for the world, the One that fulfils the greatest aspirations of any person and leads us all to God.

Prince Hassan Bin Talal on his recent visit to Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Prince Hassan
Bin Talal:
The Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti,
also Applies
to the Middle East

TODAY, ESPECIALLY in the Middle East, the cradle of the three Abrahamic religions, one feels the need for a new ‘Social Charter’ that supports the vulnerable and shows everyone the path to universal solidarity. The Encyclical ‘Fratelli tutti’, signed by Pope Francis on 3 October in Assisi in front of the tomb of St. Francis, responds to this urgency for the peoples of the Middle East and for all humanity and recognizes the brotherhood that binds all human beings. “This recognition is the basis for new social relationships”, expressed Jordanian Prince Hassan Bin Talal in al-Arab, a newspaper published in London. The authoritative member of the Hashemite royal family of Jordan, has always been committed to Islamic-Christian dialogue, as President of the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies in Amman. Hassan Bin Talal reminds that Fratelli Tutti is in line with the document, On human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi in 2018 by Pope Francis himself and by Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of al-Azhar. In the new document, notes the Jordanian Prince, the Pope calls on everyone to recognize that “God created all human beings and made them equal in terms of rights, duties and human dignity”. The bond of brotherhood that unites all people is the real antidote to all forms of aggression and any desire to oppress those belonging to other social or religious groups.

The Jordanian Prince emphasizes that the appeal to fraternity contained in the papal encyclical indicates ways in which the poor, the sick and the disabled can be effectively supported. “The world was created for everyone”, writes the Prince, “and we humans were all born with the same dignity on this earth”. This aspiration — according to the Jordanian Prince — embraces all differences and does not want to reduce everything to an indistinct unity: “We were all created starting from Adam, and we were called to accept one another as brothers and sisters. These heavenly messages demand respect for the individual and establish this re- spect as the basis for social relationships. A fact that was made even clearer by the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit strong and fragile nations and showed beyond a doubt that only human fraternity and social friendship can provide a solid basis to face the threats that affect all humanity”, concluded the Prince.

(Amman, Agenzia Fides)

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