Pope in Myanmar to religious leaders: 'peace is built in chorus of differences'
Francis meets 17 exponents of different faiths present in the country. "We are all different and every confession has its riches, its traditions, its fruits to give, and share. And this can only happen if you live in peace." "Do not align yourself with the colonization of cultures. True divine harmony is built through differences. "
Yangon (AsiaNews) - "Peace is built in a chorus of differences. Unity is always established in differences." This is the central concept expressed by Pope Francis in a meeting with 17 religious leaders of Myanmar, Buddhists, Islamists, Hindus, Jews, Catholics and Christians of other confessions.
The meeting, reported by Vatican Radio, took place this morning (see photo) in the archbishop of Yangon, where the Pope has been staying these days.
It lasted about forty minutes and after the interventions of the various exponents, the Pope spoke extemporaneously in his native Spanish. Quoting the Psalms said, "How nice it is to see brothers united." "United - he explained - does not mean uniform. Unity is not uniform, even within the same confession. Each one has its own values, riches and even deficiencies. " "We are all different," he continued, "and every confession has its riches, its traditions, its fruits to give, and share. And this can only happen if we live in peace. And peace is built in the chorus of differences. Unity is always established in differences. "
Peace, he said, is "harmony." At this time, "we experience a world-wide tendency towards uniformity, to make everything the same. This is killing humanity. This is a cultural colonization. And we must understand the richness of our differences (ethnic, religious, popular), and these differences create dialogue. And from these differences we learn from each other, as brothers. " We can help "to build this country, which also geographically has so many riches and differences. Nature in Myanmar is very rich in differences. We are not afraid of the differences! Our father is One. We are brothers. We must be like brothers. And if we argue among ourselves, it must be as brothers who are immediately reconciled. They always go back to being brothers. I think that only in this way is peace built. "
"Build peace - he concluded - do not allow yourselves to be rendered uniform by the colonization of cultures. True divine harmony is built through differences. Differences are a resource for peace. "
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