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Cardinal Fernández: All religions stand for peace
Vatican News ^ | September 17, 2026 | Vatican News

Posted on 09/17/2026 12:32:51 PM PDT by ebb tide

Cardinal Fernández: All religions stand for peace

Marking the release of “A Journey of Hope,” Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, grants an interview to Vatican News to reflect on the 60th anniversary of Nostra aetate.

Vatican News

Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council published the conciliar Declaration Nostra aetate, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue have published “A Journey of Hope.”

In the following interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks about the Church’s desire for dialogue with people of other faiths.

Q: In a world of divisions, wars, and violence, where the religious component is often cited among the causes of conflict, what value and contemporary relevance does the Conciliar Declaration Nostra aetate hold?

Section 9 of the Note recalls a fundamental passage from paragraph 5 of the Declaration Nostra aetate, which states: “We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he is in the image of God. […] The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.”

This is a guideline of the utmost importance for our current context as well. Every religion—and all religions—stands for peace. Never for war. Indeed, it is no coincidence that Pope Leo XIV himself emphatically reaffirmed this same principle in his encyclical Magnifica humanitas, paragraph 223: “[T]hose who use the name of God to legitimize terrorism, violence or war betray His true nature, for to fight in the name of religion means attacking religion itself.

Q: What does it mean, in concrete terms, to “engage in dialogue” today? How can one avoid, on the one hand, the risk of retreating into an insular identity and, on the other, the risk of syncretism?

I would like to recall here what Saint John Paul II used to say regarding dialogue. It is said that, in various private conversations, he emphasized the urgency of combining the strongest sense of identity with the greatest openness to dialogue.

Truly, authentic dialogue is at the same time a form of “proclamation,” since, precisely within the dialogue, each person must clearly show the other their own identity and strive to reveal it in all its beauty and harmony.

All this connects with what is aptly expressed in Dilexit nos, in sections 209 and 210, where [Pope Francis] recalls that the mission of proclaiming the Gospel “requires missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ, feel bound to share this love that has changed their lives.

They are impatient when time is wasted discussing secondary questions or concentrating on truths and rules, because their greatest concern is to share what they have experienced. They want others to perceive the goodness and beauty of the Beloved through their efforts, however inadequate they may be.”

And in all this, there is no act of proselytism, for “the words of a lover do not disturb others, they do not make demands or oblige, they only lead others to marvel at such love. With immense respect for their freedom and dignity, the lover simply waits for them to inquire about the love that has filled his or her life with such great joy.”

Q: In Redemptoris missio, Pope John Paul II affirms that dialogue with other religious traditions “is part of the Church’s evangelizing mission.” What does this mean?

At all times, the Church is a sacrament of the immense love God bears for all the men and women of the earth; for this reason, it actively commits itself to proclaiming faith in the Risen Christ and His Gospel, so that a future of peace, fraternity, justice, respect, and love may dawn as soon as possible.

Yet, in truth, there are many obstacles to this “project of a civilization of love”—to use the words of Saint Paul VI, recently adopted by Pope Leo XIV. Indeed, a terrible individualism and an equally pernicious form of self-worship have spread—and continue to spread—leading everyone, to a greater or lesser degree, to withdraw into themselves and to think that others simply do not exist.

In countering this, the Church seeks, on the one hand, to offer a witness of fraternal love when encountering believers of other religious traditions; on the other, it feels a natural desire to engage in dialogue and collaboration with those traditions, enabling every human being to grasp the truth that only those who love their neighbour are truly capable of happiness.



TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: anticatholicpinglist; blasphemoussectarian; deliberatemisquote; didyoureadyourpost; frankenchurch; jackchickpinglist; learnhowtoread; libelisamortalsin; nostravomitus; pimpmyschismaticsect; readincontext; readnextparagraph; readthewholequote; readwholeparagraph; sspxcantread; sspxilliteracy; synodalchurch; twinkletoestucho

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Cardinal Fernández: All religions stand for peace


Batttle of Vienna


Battle of Lepanto

He who ignores history is bound to repeat it.


1 posted on 09/17/2026 12:32:51 PM PDT by ebb tide
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To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

Tucho / Nostra Aetate Barf Alert


2 posted on 09/17/2026 12:33:57 PM PDT by ebb tide (Our Lady, Co-Redemptrix and Mediatriax of All Graces pray for us.)
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To: ebb tide

Except for islam. Rob from the poor, give to the rich, stupid bitch.


3 posted on 09/17/2026 12:35:17 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: ebb tide

When the hierarchy becomes dominated by agnostic homosexuals, its thinking and pronouncements reflect a high degree of willful ignorance and delusion.


4 posted on 09/17/2026 12:36:41 PM PDT by allendale
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To: ebb tide

Well, all but one..................


5 posted on 09/17/2026 12:37:22 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: ebb tide

Even the ones shouting “death to us”?


6 posted on 09/17/2026 12:37:47 PM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: ebb tide

catholic church seems full of bs lately


7 posted on 09/17/2026 12:38:18 PM PDT by goodnesswins (Most Congress Critters should be referred to as what they are....LOOTERS)
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To: ebb tide

what a total and complete LIE.

Islam was started by the liar, war chief, murderer, and pedophile Mohammad to specifically take advantage of the Christian teaching of turn the other cheek.

And they have been murdering and raping their way around the world ever since.

The only peace associated with Islam is the eternal peace given to those who stand in their way.


8 posted on 09/17/2026 12:40:07 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: ebb tide

Morons.


9 posted on 09/17/2026 12:40:55 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: ebb tide

No. They. Do. Not.


10 posted on 09/17/2026 12:43:59 PM PDT by wny
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To: ebb tide

Most denominations in the West appear to be “captured”.


11 posted on 09/17/2026 12:44:57 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: ebb tide

Tell it to the Aztecs, the Muslims, and the per-capita most intensely violent/genocidal religion in history, the Atheists.


12 posted on 09/17/2026 12:46:58 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: ebb tide

That imbecile might want to read the Koran, which is nothing more than a field manual for making war against the rest of the world.


13 posted on 09/17/2026 12:48:42 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: ebb tide

But if I tell a lie that holds my extended family together and don’t go to Confession about it, or worse, take Communion, guys like this tell me that I’m going to Hell for eternity or at least Purgatory for a long time. Yep, that ranks right up there with Islam’s atrocities, Lindsay Clancy and those murders in that North Philadelphia house. Makes sense. 🤪


14 posted on 09/17/2026 12:54:03 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: ebb tide

Maybe buddy boy better rethink that claim a bit …

15 posted on 09/17/2026 12:55:51 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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16 posted on 09/17/2026 1:05:19 PM PDT by ebb tide (Our Lady, Co-Redemptrix and Mediatriax of All Graces pray for us.)
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To: ebb tide

A suggestion for Cardinal Fernández:

Ask a sophisticated and friendly Muslim to honestly answer these three questions:

1. What should happen to anyone who mocks Mohammed?
2. What should happen to anyone who defiles the Koran?
3. What should happen to anyone who leaves the Muslim religion?

An honest Muslim will respond:

1. death
2. death
3. death

——-

Not a very peaceful religion, actually.


17 posted on 09/17/2026 1:05:45 PM PDT by Leaning Right
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To: mikey_hates_everything
But if I tell a lie that holds my extended family together and don’t go to Confession about it, or worse, take Communion, guys like this tell me that I’m going to Hell for eternity or at least Purgatory for a long time.

It's good to see you acknowledge the truth.

18 posted on 09/17/2026 1:07:29 PM PDT by ebb tide (Our Lady, Co-Redemptrix and Mediatriax of All Graces pray for us.)
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To: ebb tide

True when you consider Islam by what it is:

a faith in a false prophet

a violence-driven political movement

a purposeful attempt to arrest cultural development

a shameless promoter of enslavement, rape, theft and murder

a death cult with nothing to offer but destruction

and my belief that it’s Satan’s ploy to drag as many deluded souls into the Pit with him in the end. So far successful.

It is not a Religion.


19 posted on 09/17/2026 1:10:08 PM PDT by MikelTackNailer (9-11-2001 is Unfinished Business until Islam is crushed.)
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To: ebb tide
"It's good to see you acknowledge the truth."

Theoretical based on someone I knew. But what is the truth about punishment when Islam is to be esteemed, homos can do what they do and those are apparently ok?

20 posted on 09/17/2026 1:15:31 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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