Pope to participate in first International Day of Human Fraternity
The Holy Father will mark the International Day of Human Fraternity in a virtual meeting on 4 February, the date set by the United Nations General Assembly for this new annual occasion. He will do so together with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb. The event will be hosted in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed.
On 21 December 2020, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared 4 February as International Day of Human Fraternity. "In this decisive phase of human history, we are at a crossroads: on the one hand, universal fraternity in which humanity rejoices, and on the other, an acute misery that will increase the suffering and deprivation of people," Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Abdel Salam, secretary general of the High Committee of Human Fraternity, underlined during his presentation of the encyclical Fratelli tutti on 4 October 2020.
The meeting and the award ceremony will be broadcast by Vatican Media and streamed in several languages starting at 14:30 (Rome time) - 7:30 AM Winnipeg
"This celebration responds to a clear call that Pope Francis has been making to all humanity to build a present of peace in the encounter with the other," stressed Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot MCCJ, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. "In October 2020, that invitation became even more vivid with the Encyclical Fratelli tutti. These meetings are a way to achieve true social friendship, as the Holy Father asks of us," he added.
The date is no coincidence. On 4 February 2019, during an Apostolic Journey the Pope made to the United Arab Emirates, together with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (Cairo), Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, they signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. The Pope and the Grand Imam spent almost half a year drafting this Document before announcing it together during such a historic visit.
A few months later, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity was established to translate the aspirations of the Human Fraternity Document into sustained engagements and concrete actions to foster fraternity, solidarity, respect and mutual understanding. The Higher Committee is planning an Abrahamic Family House, with a synagogue, a church and a mosque, on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. It established an independent jury to receive nominations for the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and choose winners whose work demonstrates a lifelong commitment to human fraternity. The 2021 prize will be awarded on 4 February.
