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Illustration: Wat Phra Kaew, one of the most sacred wats in Bangkok
Pope Francis’ greeting to the delegation of Buddhist monks from Thailand
Clementine Hall – Monday, 27 May 2024
It gives me great pleasure to welcome your delegation on this occasion which reinforces our enduring friendship.
I recall with gratitude my visit to your country from 20 to 23 November 2019, (see footnote below) and the extraordinary welcome and hospitality you extended to me. I remember with affection the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand and kindly ask you to convey to him my affectionate greetings.
Speaking of recent events that have renewed our established friendship, I was delighted to hear about the Seventh Buddhist-Christian Colloquium held in Thailand last November, which brought together more than 150 participants from different parts of Asia to reflect on the theme “Karuna and Agape in Dialogue for the Healing of a Wounded Humanity and the Earth”.
Today humanity and the Earth, our common home, are indeed wounded!
So many wars, so many people who have lost everything and have been forced to flee.
So many children affected by violence.
But, as you pointed out during our meeting, “we firmly believe that in the midst of dark clouds, those who are deeply rooted in their respective religious traditions and who are willing to work together with everyone can bring a ray of hope to a desperate humanity” (Final Declaration of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, Seventh Buddhist-Christian Colloquium, 16 November 2023).
During the colloquium, you emphasized three key points which I would like to reiterate:
first, you stated that “no one will be saved alone; we can only be saved together, for we are interconnected and interdependent”.
In light of this truth, I urge you to work together with everyone: civil society, members of other religions, governments, international organizations, academic and scientific communities and all other interested parties to promote a friendship that sustains peace and fraternity and builds a more inclusive world.
Second, you stressed the importance of educating everyone, especially young people and children, “in caring and sharing relationships with one another and the environment”.
Finally, you said, “we believe that prayer and meditation can turn things upside down by purifying our hearts and minds; creating loving kindness, mercy and forgiveness where there is hatred and vengeance creating a spirit of respect and care for others and for the earth”.
I am very happy that tomorrow you will pray for peace in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
I sincerely thank you for the kind gesture of coming to the Vatican and encourage you to continue promote dialogue and cooperation, especially with the Catholic Church in Thailand, in a spirit of lasting friendship.
I invoke upon you and upon all the people of your noble country abundant divine blessings. Thank you very much!
Footnote:
Wat Ratchabophit Sathit Maha Simaram Temple (Bangkok)
Thursday, 21 November 2019
Our meeting iss part of the journey of esteem and mutual recognition begun by our predecessors. I would like this visit to follow in their footsteps, in order to increase respect but also friendship between our communities. Almost fifty years have passed since the seventeenth Supreme Patriarch, Somdej Phra Wanarat (Pun Punnasiri), together with a group of distinguished Buddhist monks, visited Pope Paul VI in the Vatican. This was a very important turning point in the development of the dialogue between our religious traditions, which subsequently enabled Pope John Paul II to visit this Temple and the Supreme Patriarch, His Holiness Somdej Phra Ariyavongsagatanana (Vasana Vasano).
I myself recently had the honor of receiving a delegation of monks from the Wat Pho temple, who presented me with a translation of an ancient Buddhist manuscript in the Pali language kept in the Vatican Library.
These are small steps that help to show that the culture of encounter is possible, not only within our communities but also in our world, which is so prone to creating and spreading conflict and exclusion. When we have the opportunity to appreciate and value one another desspite our differences (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 250), we offer to the world a word of hope, that can encourage and support those who increasingly suffer the harmful effects of conflict.
Occasions such as these remind us of the importance of religions increasingly becoming beacons of hope, as promoters and guarantors of fraternity.
In this regard, I am grateful to the people of this country, because, since the arrival of Christianity in Thailand some four and a half centuries ago, Catholics, although a minority, have enjoyed freedom of worship and have lived for many years in harmony with their Buddhist brothers and sisters.
On this path of mutual trust and fraternity, I wish to reaffirm my personal commitment, and that of the whole Church, to promoting open and respectful dialogue in the service of the peace and the well-being of this people.
Thanks to scientific exchanges, leading to better mutual understanding, as well as the exercise of contemplation, mercy and discernment – common to our two traditions – we can grow and live together as good “neighbors”.
We will also be able to promote the development of new charitable projects among the followers of our religions, capable of generating and multiplying practical initiatives on the path of fraternity, especially with regard to the poor and our much-abused common home.
In this way, we will contribute to the formation of a culture of compassion, fraternity and encounter, both here and in other parts of the world.
I am sure, Your Holiness, that this journey will continue to bear abundant fruit.
Once again, I thank Your Holiness for this meeting.
I pray that you may be granted every divine blessing for your own health and well-being, and for your high responsibility of guiding the followers of Buddhism in the ways of peace and concord.
