Anglican Bishop of Kazakhstan urges "Let us work together for peacebuilding"
Interfaith leaders gathered in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, from 14 to 15 September to explore common grounds in the world and traditional religions in the search for the promotion of world peace.
Inviting the interfaith leaders, Anglican Bishop of Kazakhstan Jo Bailey Wells of the diocese of Dorking said, "Let us jointly work and take responsibility for peacebuilding."
The 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions came to a close on September 15, with the adoption of a declaration by most of the over 100 delegations from about 60 countries represented.
On his Apostolic Journey to the Central Asian country, Pope Francis spoke to Congress during its closing session, stressing the importance of peace and encouraging the inclusion of women and young people in our efforts towards a better society.
Anglican Bishop Wells, one of the Congress’ participants, had the unique responsibility of reading out the declaration at the closing session.
She spoke to Vatican News’ Deborah Castellano Lubov about the importance of the document and recommended ways of bringing the principles it contains to bear in society.
The Bishop of Dorking of the diocese of Guildford, insists that the declaration from the Congress must not be something that just remains "on a piece of paper" but should be shared, embraced, and lived.
While encouraging common responsibility for the principles of the document, she further stresses that we need to go beyond just agreeing to it because everyone has to "take it forward together" and hold one another accountable for doing so.
She urged joint efforts in implementing the declaration, noting that it would do no good if it were done individually or by separate faith groupings.
In her opinion, she said, "It is much more powerful when different people stand together with a document that they share to seek to live it." -With input from Vatican News
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
Latest News
