Fidelity and truth : catholic engagement in interreligious dialogue

Abstract

On 11 October 2011 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI issued a motu proprio entitled Porta fidei announcing a Year of Faith that would begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and would end on the Feast of Christ, the Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The Pope expressed his rationale for the celebration of this event in the following terms: We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. It will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is ‘the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; ... and also the source from which all its power flows.’ At the same time, we make it our prayer that believers’ witness of life may grow in credibility. To rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed, and to reflect on the act of faith, is a task that every believer must make his own, especially in the course of this Year. These words have lost none of their power today. Through them we are called to bear witness to our Christian identity and faith as it is lived out in a multi-religious (and oftentimes a non-religious) society.