(Vatican Radio) Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem this year marks the 50th anniversary of its establishment in the wake of Pope Paul VI’s historic visit to the Holy Land.Offering a wide variety of conferences, study programmes and research opportunities, the institute aims to promote ecumenical and interfaith understanding among people from all religious backgrounds. It also provides a base from which to explore the places connected to the Old and New Testaments, while learning something of the complex political realities of the Holy Land today.Philippa Hitchen is visiting Tantur this week to report on its achievements and its future vision:Listen to her report: The word ‘Tantur’ is Arabic for hilltop and the geography of this unique ecumenical institute clearly illustrates its mission to be a place of encounter between Christians, Muslims and Jews. It is located on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem, overlooking Bethlehem to the south and another Palest...
(Vatican Radio) Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem this year marks the 50th anniversary of its establishment in the wake of Pope Paul VI’s historic visit to the Holy Land.
Offering a wide variety of conferences, study programmes and research opportunities, the institute aims to promote ecumenical and interfaith understanding among people from all religious backgrounds. It also provides a base from which to explore the places connected to the Old and New Testaments, while learning something of the complex political realities of the Holy Land today.
Philippa Hitchen is visiting Tantur this week to report on its achievements and its future vision:
Listen to her report:
The word ‘Tantur’ is Arabic for hilltop and the geography of this unique ecumenical institute clearly illustrates its mission to be a place of encounter between Christians, Muslims and Jews. It is located on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem, overlooking Bethlehem to the south and another Palestinian town, Beit Safafa, to the north. From the roof of the main building you can easily pick out the bell tower of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity rising behind the Israeli separation barrier that snakes across the landscape dividing Israel from the West Bank.
To the east and west lie two Jewish settlements, Har Homa and Gilo, with Tantur situated right at the crossroads. Before the separation barrier was built in 2005, many Bethlehem residents, heading to work in Jerusalem, would cut through the grounds of the institute, which is owned by the Vatican and run by the U.S. University of Notre Dame, in order to avoid Israeli checkpoints on the Hebron Road.
Now it is much harder for Palestinians in the West Bank to get to Jerusalem, with permits mostly being issued around the time of the different religious festivities. Yet Tantur still sees its mission as one of patiently building bridges and trying to bring people together across the different faith communities. The current rector, Holy Cross Father Russ McDougall, says it remains one of the few places where “both Palestinians and Israelis feel safe coming together for dialogue.”
On the day I arrived, a group of young students from the interfaith youth network ‘Kids 4 Peace’ was meeting there and many other local peace groups use the facility as a safe space in which to build relations between people who otherwise live increasingly segregated lives.
Founded half a century ago, following Pope Paul VI’s historic embrace of the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagorus, which ended centuries of estrangement between Catholics and Orthodox, Tantur continues that work of reconciliation and encounter today. Amid an increasingly bleak political landscape, it remains true to its original mission as a hilltop oasis of hospitality and welcome.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...