All Have Responsibility

For the good of all people, the care of the poor and the future of the earth, religions must cooperate in reminding modern men and women that God exists and has a plan for their lives and their behavior, Pope Francis said. “The Catholic Church knows the importance of promoting friendship and respect among men and women of different religious traditions,” he said on March 20 during a meeting with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Jain delegations that had come to the Vatican for his inauguration. The Catholic Church, he said, “is equally aware of the responsibility that all have for this world, for creation—which we must love and protect—and we can do much good for those who are poor, weak and suffering, to favor justice, to promote reconciliation, to build peace.... But more than anything,” he said, “we must keep alive in the world the thirst for the Absolute. We must never allow a one-dimensional vision of the human person to prevail—a vision that reduces the person to what he produces and consumes. This is one of the most dangerous, insidious things of our age.”