Week of Tolerance, a message of fraternity from the pavilion of the Holy See
Bridges, connections, dialogue, brotherhood. It starts frommeeting between St. Francis and Sultan Malik Al-Kāmil and goes up to the one between Pope francesco and the Great Imam of Al-Azhar, which took place 800 years later, in 2019, right here in the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, the path inside the Pavilion of the Holy See. In this first universal exhibition in the Middle East, in the heart of Islam, the message that arrives is strong, especially on the occasion of the thematic week dedicated to tolerance and inclusion, which opened today.
A small pavilion, that of the Holy See, yet rich in content, from beauty and also courageous in the choice of display material. Starting with a precious 9th century palimpsest, the only testimony to date of that cultural and scientific center that was the House of Wisdom in Baghdad; saved by some Christian monks, it is the first time that the document has come out of the Vatican archives. Until the reproduction of the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, the original adorns the Sistine Chapel, which refers not only to the idea of all humanity and to men children of one God, but also to time: to create, even connections and dialogues, it takes work, dedication, commitment, one step at a time.
And before leaving the pavilion, a sculpture aimed at the future: if in Abu Dhabi the Pope and the Grand Imam signed a document that has gone down in history, the Declaration on human brotherhood, which also laid the foundation stone for the birth of the House of the Abramite Family, a mosque, a church and a synagogue next to each other, Expo 2020 Dubai becomes a warning, to never interrupt the bridges built with effort and to always create new and solid ones.
In the video the interviews with Archbishop Tomasz Trafny, Deputy Commissioner General of the Holy See Pavilion, and to the volunteers Mara Rossi And Ilaria Melato
Elisabetta Norzi